* Barzak, Christopher, Alan DeNiro & Kristin Livdahl : Rabid Transit: Menagerie
(Velocity Press no isbn, $6, 92pp, trade paperback, May 2005)

Anthology of 6 original stories. Authors are Vandana Singh, Matthew Cheney, Dean Francis Alfar, James Allison, Rudi Dornemann, and Eric Rickstad.
• This is the fourth in a series of chapbook anthologies that began in 2002 (actually this one is perfect bound) by a writers' group known as the Ratbastards. The publisher's site has these descriptions with contents lists and ordering information.

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* Blumlein, Michael : The Healer
(Prometheus/Pyr 1-59102-314-9, $25, 359pp, hardcover, July 2005, jacket illustration Caniglia, jacket design Jacqueline Cooke)

SF novel about a minority group of humans called Grotesques, some of whom can heal their patients of disease, and one such healer named Payne who's in search of acceptance in society.
• The publisher's site has this description -- "...Blumlein brings his experience as a practicing physician to bear in this novel, which subtly and beautifully examines the ways in which society both reveres and fears members of the medical profession." -- cover blurbs, and an author profile.
• Amazon has the PW review, which calls it a "haunting literary SF novel" and an "original, surreal and extraordinary book".
• John Clute reviewed it for SF Weekly. Faren Miller's review appeared in the July issue of Locus Magazine, saying that Blumlein "combines his insider's knowledge and unflappable descriptive style with fantastical elements from what could be the far future, for a compelling portrait of a man whose talent is simultaneously obsession, curse, and transformative magic."

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* Covino, Joseph Jr. : Edgar Allan Poe's San Francisco: Terror Tales of the City
(Epic Press 0-943283-12-4, $19.95, 297pp, trade paperback, August 2005)

Horror thriller about a San Francisco hypnotist who conditions a writer to copycat the Edgar Allan Poe-inspired modus operandi of a serial killer. The book has 17 chapters, a prologue, and an epilogue, with titles such as "The Tell-Tale Heartbeat" and "The Pitless Pendulum".
• The book is revised from earlier work Terror Tales of the City: Prince of the Perverse, as the author explains in "Footnote: Rebutting the (Pretty Illiterate) Critics", in which he responds to criticism of the earlier book, especially its gay content.

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* Duane, Diane : Wizards at War
(Harcourt 0152047727, $17, 552pp, hardcover, October 2005, jacket illustration Cliff Nielsen)

Young adult fantasy novel, 8th book in the "Young Wizards" series that began with So You Want to Be a Wizard in 1983 and continued most recently with Wizard's Holiday in 2003. In this book the wizards of Earth and other planets are threatened by a strange invasion.
• The series has an official website, with this description of the current book, and an excerpt.
• There's also a description of the next book in the series, A Wizard of Mars, due in 2006.

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* Haynes, Simon : Hal Spacejock
(Australia: Fremantle Arts Centre Press 1-92073-189-x, A$19.95, 396pp, mass market paperback, September 2005)

Humorous space opera novel, first of a series, about a down-on-his-luck operator of an intergalactic cargo business.
• The author, who is co-founder of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, originally self-published this book and two sequels before selling revised versions to Fremantle Arts Centre Press. The series' official site has descriptions, news, articles on writing, etc. And the author has a blog.
• It's listed by Amazon (click on cover image) but not yet available; Australian online bookseller Dymocks shows it available now.

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* Herbert, Frank, Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson : The Road to Dune
(Tor 0-765-31295-6, $25.95, 494pp, hardcover, September 2005, jacket art Stephen Youll)

Anthology of fiction and essays from the Dune series, including unpublished scenes and chapters from Frank Herbert's first two novels in the series, Dune and Dune Messiah; correspondence between Frank Herbert, John W. Campbell, and agents; and Frank Herbert's proposal and notes for the first book.
• There's also an "alternate Dune novel" called "Spice Planet", by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson, based on Frank Herbert's early outline for what became Dune, and four short stories set in the Dune universe by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson.
• The Official Dune Website has this description with table of contents and links to additional Frank Herbert material.
• Amazon has reader reviews.

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+ Herbert, James : Nobody True
(Tor 0-765-31212-3, $25.95, 316pp, hardcover, September 2005, jacket art and design Blacksheep) First US edition (UK: Macmillan, 2003)

Fantasy thriller about a man who returns from an out-of-body experience to find his body has been murdered, and who engages in a search for his killer.
• Amazon has the book flap description, and a review from Harriet Klausner.
• The Amazon UK page for the first edition has a review by Roz Kaveney: "This is a book about learning valuable lessons and not thinking simple versions of the truth are necessarily the most accurate ones; it is among the most odd Herbert horror thrillers and like several of his best books has an attractive emotional core underneath all the gore and nightmare. Occasional wordiness and too much occultist waffle about dreaming, death and soul travel do not stop this also being intermittently one of his most gripping."

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+ Hobb, Robin : Shaman's Crossing
(HarperCollins/Eos 0-06-075762-0, $25.95, 577pp, hardcover, September 2005, jacket art Ervin Serrano) First US edition (UK: Voyager, July 2005)

Fantasy novel, first in the "Soldier Son" trilogy, about a young nobleman whose promising future is threatened by various obstacles.
• The publisher's site has this description, excerpts from reader reviews, and a chapter excerpt.
• The UK edition has ranked on UK and Australian bestseller lists since its publication in July. Amazon has numerous reader reviews, some reacting negatively to the difference between this book and Hobb's previous works.
• Both Carolyn Cushman and Lisa Goldstein review the book in the September issue of Locus Magazine; Cushman says the book "is very much a military academy novel, but set in a world both familiar and strange, with more than a suggestion of the Old West."

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* Otomo, Katsuhiro : Hipira
(DH Press 1-59582-002-7, $13.95, unppp, hardcover, August 2005, illustrations by Shinji Kimura)

Children's picture book about a child vampire who gets into mischief in the supernatural city of Saruta.
• The publisher's site has this description
• The writer is the Japanese anime star, writer and director of Akira and Steamboy.

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* Reed, Kit : The Dogs of Truth
(Tor 0-765-31414-2, $14.95, 286pp, trade paperback, September 2005, cover design Henry Sene Yee)

Collection of 17 stories, subtitled "New and Uncollected Stories"; 3 stories appear to be originals. The author provides an introduction to the book. Stories include "Focus Group", "High Rise High", "The Shop of Little Horrors", and "Perpetua".
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "No matter how absurd, these horror stories still sting with truth and ring with humor, often ending with an odd happiness."
• Faren Miller reviews the book in the September issue of Locus Magazine, commenting "Reed is a self-proclaimed pessimist who thrives on paranoia. If the worst doesn't happen, she'll survey the moderate carnage and call it a Happy Ending. That sounds like a recipe for merciless social satire, but satire is only one part of her repertoire and she rarely tackles the larger sociopolitical issues. A more appropriate label for what she does might be the art of Domestic Apocalypse..."

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* Waldrop, Howard : Heart of Whitenesse
(Subterranean Press 1-59606-018-2, $40, 274pp, hardcover, April 2005, jacket illustration Doug Potter, jacket design Desert Isle Design)

Collection of 10 stories, with an introduction and afterwords to each story by Waldrop. This is a signed, limited edition of 750 numbered copies and 26 lettered copies. Stories include "Mr. Goober's Show", "Major Spacer in the 21st Century!", "Us", and "The Other Real World".
• It's available directly from the publisher and also from Amazon (click on cover image).
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which says Waldrop "offers 10 quirky, sometimes outrageous speculative stories in this wise and funny collection."
• Faren Miller reviewed the book in the May issue of Locus Magazine, commenting that the author can "make associations that seem dead-obvious (only after he has made them), and his fiction abounds with wonderfully geekish arcane knowledge ranging from the obsolete tech and lurid pulp of the century just past to much older fairy tales, works of literature, history.... There's no 'simply real and true' about this guy!"

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* Wallace, Sean, ed. : Jabberwocky
(Prime Books 0-8095-5062-8, $10, 117pp, trade paperback, August 2005, cover art Claude Manuel, cover design Garry Nurrish)

Collection of 27 original stories and poems, introduced by Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky", apparently inspired by that work's spirit and sense of free play. First of a planned series.
• As the publisher's description says, "There are no boundaries, no restrictions, no genres. If you love the art of the written word, its structure, its flow, its language, I suspect you'll love Jabberwocky."
• Authors include Jane Yolen, Theodora Goss, Tim Pratt, Yoon Ha Lee, Anna Tambour, Catherynne M. Valente, and Greer Gilman.

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