* Birmingham, John : Designated Targets
(Ballantine Del Rey 0-345-45714-5, $14.95, 368pp, trade paperback, October 2005)

Time travel technothriller, second in the "Axis of Time" trilogy following Weapons of Choice (2004), about a 21st century United Nations battle group that is somehow sent back to the middle of World War II.
• Del Rey's site has this description, an author Q&A, and an excerpt.
• The author now has a blog.
• Amazon has Publishers Weekly's review: "The author doesn't make the mistake of pitting his protagonists against morons, and he rightly shows how improvements in command and control trump bigger and better guns. Entertaining cameos by Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy will delight the geek in all of us."

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* Bly, Robert : The Science in Science Fiction
(BenBella Books 1-932100-48-2, $24, 367pp, hardcover, September 2005, cover art J. P. Targete)

Nonfiction, subtitled "83 SF Predictions that Became Scientific Reality". Includes an introduction, bibliography, and index. Topics include Alternate Energy, Atomic Warfare, Colonies in Space, ESP, Flying Cars, Food Pills, Jet Packs, Men on the Moon, Space Elevator, Television, and X-Ray vision. James Gunn is credited as a consulting editor.
• Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes the complete table of contents, and an excerpt.

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* Caughey, Shanna, ed. : Revisiting Narnia : Fantasy, Myth and Religion in C. S. Lewis' Chronicles
(BenBella 1932100636, $14.95, 310pp, trade paperback, October 2005)

Nonfiction anthology of 25 articles about C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia.
• The description on Amazon describes the contributors as including "Theologians, psychologists, academics, feminists, and fantasists..."; among the last are Nick Mamatas, Sarah Zettel, Jacqueline Carey, and Lawrence Watt-Evans.
• The publisher's description has the complete contributor list.

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+ Erikson, Steven : Blood Follows
(Night Shade Books 1-597800-04-X, $25, 121pp, hardcover, May 2005, cover illustration Mike Dringengerg) First US edition (UK: PS Publishing, April 2002)

Fantasy novella set in the Malazan Empire of Erikson's series (Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates, etc.), about a killer loose in the port city of Lamentable Moll.
• The publisher's site has this description, which is reproduced on the Amazon page.
• Reviews of the original UK edition are online from Rick Kleffel and from William Thompson; Kleffel calls the book "a well-written, heavily textured tale set in a fascinating natural and supernatural environment."

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* Foster, Alan Dean : Running from the Deity
(Ballantine Del Rey 0-345-46159-2, $24.95, 255pp, hardcover, November 2005, jacket illustration Robert Hunt)

SF novel, latest in the ongoing series about empath Philip Lynx and his mini-dragon companion Pip that began with The Tar Aiym Krang in 1972 and most recently included Sliding Scales in 2004. In this book, Flinx lands for repairs on a planet whose inhabitants welcome his godlike powers.
• Del Rey's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has a review from Booklist -- "Another entertaining addition to the world of Pip and Flinx." -- and a review by Harriet Klausner, who dubs it "The Gods Must Be Crazy in outer space".
• Carolyn Cushman reviewed it in the August issue of Locus Magazine, concluding "Flinx's encounters with various worlds and alien cultures have their entertaining moments, but lack punch, and the series is starting to bear an ominous resemblance to the neverending search of E.C. Tubb's Dumarest of Terra."

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* Gillis, Alec : Worlds: A Mission of Discovery
(Design Studio Press 0-9726676-9-5, $39.95, 127pp, hardcover, 2005)

SF 'pictorial' artbook depicting a mission to Proxima Centauri in 2071 where several planets are explored and the single astronaut is marooned in an accident.
• The artwork combines photography, sculpture, digital art, painting, and miniatures. Gillis is a special effects artist for films, his works including Spiderman, Aliens, and The Santa Clause.
• The book has a foreword by James Cameron.
• Not available from Amazon, but available directly from the publisher, whose webpage has a description and links to a slide show and a gallery. This Dosch Design page also has a gallery of page samples.

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* Greenberg, Martin H., ed. : All Hell Breaking Loose
(DAW 0756402891, $7.5, 307pp, mass market paperback, October 2005)

Anthology of 16 original stories about Hell and its denizens. Authors include P.N. Elrod, Ed Gorman, David D. Levine, Dean Wesley Smith, Tom Piccirilli, and Adam Stemple.
• Amazon has reader reviews, including one that lists the entire table of contents.

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* Hart, J. V. : Capt. Hook : The Adventures of a Notorious Youth
(HarperCollins/Laura Geringer 0-06-000220-4, $15.99, 342pp, hardcover, September 2005, jacket art Brett Helquist)

YA novel about a notorious Eton underclassman who grows up to be Captain Hook in J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. Interior illustrations and cover art are by Brett Helquist, known for the Series of Unfortunate Events volumes. Author J.V. Hart is a screenwriter whose credits include the 1991 film Hook, among others.
• HarperCollins' site has this description, an excerpt, and a reading guide.
• Amazon has reviews from School Library Journal and Booklist, which note respectively that "This is a much darker Pan prequel than Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's Peter and the Starcatchers" and "Hart's novel is much more challenging and dense than Peter and the Starcatchers..." The latter review concludes "[S]ome determined, sophisticated readers will be pulled in by the magical, tall-tale details; James' triumph over bullies; the exciting adventures; and the thought-provoking portrait of a villain who is capable of both murder and great sympathy."

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* Holder, Nancy, & Nancy Kilpatrick, eds. : Outsiders: All-New Stories From the Edge
(Roc 0-451-46044-8, $14.95, 336pp, trade paperback, October 2005, cover art Cliff Nielsen)

Anthology of 22 original horror stories. Authors include Neil Gaiman (whose contribution is a poem), Steve Rasnic Tem, Kathe Koja, David J. Schow, Benjamin Little, Poppy Z. Brite, Joe R. Lansdale, and John Shirley.
• Amazon has a review from Publishers Weekly: "While most selections respect the 'outsider' theme, many exhibit a longing for community, taking an 'alternate mainstream,' not an antimainstream, attitude."
• Tim Pratt reviewed the book in the September issue of Locus Magazine.

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* Isaak, Elaine : The Singer's Crown
(Eos 0-06-078253-6, $14.95, 469pp, trade paperback, October 2005, cover illustration Aaron Campbell)

Fantasy novel, the author's first novel, about a prince who survived his family's murder only to be castrated and trained as a singer, now fallen in love with a princess in the middle of a court conspiracy.
• The publisher's site has this description, an author note, and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which notes despite "predictable plot lines" that "many of the details are moving, and the prose is taut. ... this stand-alone is an enjoyable read, and fans are likely to eagerly await Isaak's next book."

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* Kotzwinkle, William : The Amphora Project
(Grove 0-8021-1803-8, $23, 335pp, hardcover, October 2005)

SF novel about a project to discover the secret of immortality from alien artifacts on the moon, despite warnings from scientists.
• The publisher's website currently features the title on its homepage, with a separate page of description and quotes from reviews, as well as an excerpt.
• Amazon reproduces reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist, the former calling it "a rollicking old-school space opera" and the latter concluding "An entertaining trip through an exotic future full of weird tech and plenty of heroics and adventure in the company of bizarre creatures."
• Faren Miller reviewed it in the October issue of Locus Magazine. She calls the book "a morality fable in the guise of flagrant Pulp Sci-Fi".

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* Kurtz, Katherine, & Robert Reginald : Codex Derynianus II
(Underwood Books 1887424962, $14.95, 353pp, trade paperback, October 2005)

Nonfiction encyclopedia about Kurtz' "Deryni" fantasy books, with genealogies, maps (by Amy Harlib), a chronology, etc.
• This is an expanded version of the book first published in 1998 as a limited slipcased edition.
• The description on the Underwood Books site is repeated on the Amazon page.
• Deryni.net has a slightly different description.
• Steven H Silver posted a review of the original edition.

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* Lackey, Mercedes : The Wizard of London
(DAW 0-7564-0174-7, $25.95, 342pp, hardcover, October 2005, jacket painting Jody A. Lee)

Fantasy novel, a retelling of "The Ice Queen", about a girl with magical talents whose parents, missionaries in Africa, send her to school back in London. It's the latest book in the Elemental Masters series, following Fire Rose, Gates of Sleep, Serpent's Shadow, and Phoenix and Ashes.
• The author's website has this page for the book, with links to several excerpts, and a note that "The first part of the book incorporates the much requested 'Grey' stories featuring Sarah and her African Grey parrot 'Gray'."
• Carolyn Cushman reviews the book in the current, November issue of Locus Magazine: "There are lots of fun bits about the girls and their avian companions (a parrot and a raven), but they mesh awkwardly with the bits about the chilly Fire mage, whose story is a little hard to warm up to. Still, the whole is a fun adventure."

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* Patton, Fiona : The Silver Lake
(DAW 0-7564-0185-2, $23.95, 386pp, hardcover, November 2005, jacket painting Steve Stone)

Fantasy novel, first book in "The Warriors of Estavia", about two street orphans in a city whose inhabitants pledge themselves to various deities.
• The publisher's brief description is reproduced on the Amazon page.
• ParaNormal Romance Reviews has Harriet Klausner's review.
• For more on the author, Made in Canada has this brief entry.

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+ Robinson, Kim Stanley : Fifty Degrees Below
(Bantam 0-553-80312-3, $25, 405pp, hardcover, November 2005, jacket art and design Dominic Harman) First US edition (UK: HarperCollins UK, September 2005)

SF novel about the effects of global climate change, sequel to Forty Signs of Rain (2004) and second in the "Science in the Capital" trilogy. In this book scientist Frank Vanderwal joins an international effort to restabilize Earth's climate, and an Ice Age-like winter descends on Washington DC.
• Bantam's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has Publishers Weekly's starred review, from its Sept 12th issue: "This ecological disaster tale is guaranteed to anger political and economic conservatives of every stripe, but it provides perhaps the most realistic portrayal ever created of the environmental changes that are already occurring on our planet. It should be required reading for anyone concerned about our world's future."
• Nick Gevers reviewed the book in the September issue of Locus Magazine -- "For all its earnestness of theme, Fifty Degrees Below has its gonzo aspects; it is truly one of the most surprising and exhilarating SF books in years." -- while Gary K. Wolfe's review in the October issue said "Robinson's Washington trilogy may end up as the most significant and impressive work of political science fiction in recent decades, and I for one am ready to read the third novel right now."

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* Salvatore, R. A. : Promise of the Witch-King: The Sellswords, Book II
(Wizards of the Coast 0-7869-3823-4, $27.95, 345pp, hardcover, October 2005, cover painting Todd Lockwood)

Fantasy novel, second in the 'Sellswords' series following Servant of the Shard (2000), concerning two popular characters in Forgotten Realms, setting of Dungeons & Dragons. This book follows the two, an elf and his assassion companion, as they venture through the Bloodstone Lands in search of a rare artifact.
• The publisher's site has this page about the book, with links to an interview, an excerpt, a screensaver, etc.
• The press release notes that "Salvatore is heralded for depicting highly visual and authentic battle scenes." The PW review on Amazon concludes "Lovers of all things elvish, especially those who like butt-kicking swordplay, dastardly intrigues and ingenious hocus-pocus, will relish this fantasy."

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+ Shepard, Lucius : Trujillo
(Night Shade Books 1-59780-012-0, $24.95, 192pp, hardcover, September 2005, jacket art J. Michael) First US edition (UK: PS Publishing, August 2004)

Fantasy novel set in a town in Honduras, where a wealthy young man found adrift at sea undergoes treatment while haunted by visions of an ancient stone artifact.
• This is apparently the first separate edition of a short novel originally published as the title piece of the 2004 collection Trujillo, published in Britain by PS Publishing, and cited in best-of-the-year lists and reviews (see that book's 2004 directory entry).
• The Night Shade Books' site has this description, and offers a forthcoming limited edition, which "will include a bonus dvd containing video footage of the real city of Trujillo, narrated by Lucius using excerpts from his various Trujillo stories".
• Amazon has a review of this edition: "Though Shepard's extended scenes of sexual predation and sadism may be excessive, his evocation of sultry tropical dangers and spiritual possession is powerful, like a suffocating nightmare when the air conditioning -- or conventional morality -- has broken down."

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* Sterling, Bruce : Shaping Things
(MIT Press 0-262-69326-7, $17.95, 152pp, trade paperback, September 2005)

Nonfiction about "created objects and the environment"; "a manifesto for the future of design". It's a volume in MIT's Mediawork Pamphlet Series, with title page credits to designer Lorraine Wild and editorial director Peter Lunenfeld.
• MIT Press' site has this description: "Sterling offers a brilliant, often hilarious history of shaped things. We have moved from an age of artifacts, made by hand, through complex machines, to the current era of 'gizmos.' ... The future will see a new kind of object -- we have the primitive forms of them now in our pockets and briefcases: user-alterable, baroquely multi-featured, and programmable -- that will be sustainable, enhanceable, and uniquely identifiable. Sterling coins the term 'spime' for them..."
• Cory Doctorow posted a lengthy Boing Boing entry about the book: "Bruce Sterling has written a fantastic nonfiction book about the future of industrial design and society, and it's the most thought-provoking thing I've read all year."

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* Vaughn, Carrie : Kitty and the Midnight Hour
(Warner Aspect 0-446-61641-9, $6.99, 272pp, mass market paperback, November 2005, cover illustration Craig White)

Fantasy novel about a werewolf radio talk show host who tries to hide her identity until becoming the target of an assassin.
• Warner's site has this description and an excerpt.
• The author's website includes the text of the first Kitty adventure, Dr. Kitty Solves All Your Love Problems (from Weird Tales, 2001).
• Amazon has the PW review: "While Kitty's occasional neediness, snide tone and attempts at werewolf wit can grate, this remains a surprisingly human tale. Blurbs from Charlaine Harris and L.A. Banks will cue their readers."
• Carolyn Cushman reviewed it in the August issue of Locus Magazine: "The story has its cute and humorous moments (oh, the biting irony of a werewolf named Kitty) but runs to the gory side; while it's blunt about the sexual side of werewolf pack relations, it lacks the excessive steaminess of recent Laurell K. Hamilton novels. Overall, it's a fun, fast-paced adventure for fans of supernatural mysteries."

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* Weber, David : At All Costs
(Baen 1-4165-0911-9, $26, 855pp, hardcover, November 2005, cover illustration David Mattingly)

SF space opera novel, latest on the Honor Harrington series. This book concerns escalating conflict between the Republic of Haven and the Star Kingdom of Manticore.
• Baen's site has this description with links to several chapters.
• Weber now has an 'under construction' homepage at http://www.davidweber.net/.
• Amazon reproduces Publishers Weekly's starred review, from its Sept 19th issue: "The sweep of interstellar conflict contrasts with developments in Honor's personal life that could have been maudlin, but succeed in being highly moving. Reading like a fusion of Horatio Hornblower, Robert A. Heinlein and Tom Clancy, this is easily the best installment in the series to date; one can well imagine that when future star warriors develop their tactics, Weber's narratives will provide a template."

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* Zivkovic, Zoran, translated by Alice Copple-Tosic : Hidden Camera
(Dalkey Archive Press 1-56478-412-6, $13.95, 217pp, trade paperback, November 2005, cover design Yana Levieva)

Novel about an undertaker who discovers someone has been filming his life.
• The author's website has a description of the book -- "Drawn hither and thither across the city by the lure of the hidden camera, he finds himself caught up in an ever more perplexing and anguished pursuit, leading to a denouement both beautiful and satisfying." -- and an excerpt.
• The publisher's site has this page about the book, with a description, quotes from reviews, and links to an interview an article about an unusual reading of the book.
• This is the first English language edition; it was originally published in Servia in 2003.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Zivkovic surveys the shifting line between paranoid fantasy and legitimate threat in his mystifying novel. ... As the story progresses, the undertaker's increasing paranoia makes it impossible to say how much of the danger is real and how much is imagined. After making a name for himself as a fantasy writer, Zivkovic has stepped intriguingly into experimental prose."

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