* Aguirre, Forrest : Fugue XXIX
(Raw Dog Screaming 1-933293-12-8, $15.95, 217pp, trade paperback, October 2005)

Collection of 29 stories, 6 of them original to this book.
• The publisher's page for the book has a description, excerpts from reviews, the complete table of contents, and a link to a sample story, In the Place Where Suffering Was Not.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Most of the selections are brief, plotless sketches built from surreal images that resist literal interpretation. At their best, they offer arresting and provocative perspectives that make the ordinary uncommon and the bizarre plausible. Aguirre won a World Fantasy Award for editing the anthology Leviathan Three (2003) and readers who enjoyed that book's genre-bending content will find much to their satisfaction."
• Also available in hardcover.

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* Aguirre, Forrest, & Deborah Layne, eds. : Nine Muses
(Wheatland Press 0-9755903-6-7, $19.95, 248pp, trade paperback, 2005, cover by Georgio de Chirico)

Anthology of 13 original stories by women writers, plus an essay, "The Beckoning Fair Ones: Some Thoughts About Muses" by Elizabeth Hand. Authors include Ruth Nestvold, Ursula Pflug, Heather Shaw, and Kit Reed.
• The publisher's page for the book has the complete table of contents.

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* Dozois, Gardner, George R. R. Martin & Daniel Abraham : Shadow Twin
(Subterranean Press 1-59606-029-8, $40, 114pp, hardcover, September 2005, jacket illustration Michael Komarck)

Collaborative novella, first published online by Sci Fiction in June 2004. This edition has a new afterword by the authors.
• The Subterranean Press page for the book explains that "Gardner began the novella in the 1970s, handed it off to George in the 1980s, who, in turn, called upon hot new writer Daniel Abraham to add the finishing touches."
• This is a limited edition of 500 signed and numbered hardcovers, plus 26 signed leatherbound traycased copies.

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* Fowler, Karen Joy, Pat Murphy, Debbie Notkin & Jeffrey D. Smith, eds. : The James Tiptree Award Anthology 2
(Tachyon Publications 1-892391-31-7, $14.95, 16+250pp, trade paperback, November 2005)

Anthology, second in the series, of winners and shortlisted works for the annual James Tiptree, Jr. Award for works that "explore and expand gender roles in science fiction".
• This volume has excerpts from the winning works from 2004, Joe Haldeman's novel Camouflage and Johanna Sinisalo's Troll: A Love Story, and shortlisted stories (or stories from shortlisted books) by L. Timmel Duchamp, Eileen Gunn & Leslie What, Carol Emshwiller, and Jaye Lawrence.
• Also included are Raphael Carter's 1999 Tiptree winning story, shortlisted stories by Jonathan Lethem and Ursula K. Le Guin, and essays by Nalo Hopkinson and Gwyneth Jones.
• The book also has an introduction by Julie Phillips about James Tiptree, Jr., and a letter by Tiptree to Rudolf Arnheim.
• The book just debuted at the World Fantasy Convention earlier this month.
• Amazon's page has a description of the book and background of the editors.

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* Hill, Joe : 20th Century Ghosts
(UK: PS Publishing 1-904619-46-0, $25, 14+304pp, trade paperback, September 2005, cover by Vincent Chong)

Collection of 14 stories, mostly horror. Two of the stories are original to this book; the others first appeared in various small press magazines or books.
• Introduction by Christopher Golden.
• The publisher's page has descriptions from several stories. The book is also available as a hardcover and as a deluxe slipcased hardcover, the latter version with additional stories and story notes by the author.
• The Amazon UK page (click on the title or cover image here) has a note from publisher Peter Crowther: "Every once in a while, a book -- and, indeed, a writer -- comes along that takes the wind right out of your sails: and I mean that in the most pleasant way possible. 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS is that book, as fine a collection of ghost and horror stories as you could ever wish to read. And Joe Hill is that writer."
• Cheryl Morgan reviewed the book for Emerald City, and Tim Pratt reviewed it for the November issue of Locus Magazine (noting that there's another story hidden in the acknowledgements); Pratt concludes "It's a cliché‚ in reviews of debut books to say so-and-so is 'a writer to watch.' Instead, let me say Joe Hill is a writer to read, and one I hope to be reading for a long time, in every genre he chooses to explore."

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* Hughes, Matthew : The Gist Hunter and Other Stories
(Night Shade Books 1-597800-20-1, $27, 245pp, hardcover, August 2005, cover illustration Jason Van Hollander)

Collection of 13 stories, 3 of them original to this book, set in the world of The Archonate (setting of the author's novels Black Brillion, etc).
• The author's website notes that the book "contains all six Henghis Hapthorn stories that have run in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction plus three Guth Bandar novelettes".
• The publisher's page for the book has a description and the complete table of contents. There's also a limited edition with an extra story, "Osfeo Tales".
• Greg Beatty published this review at Internet Review of Science Fiction.
• Nick Gevers reviewed the book in the August issue of Locus Magazine, commenting on Hughes' homages to Gene Wolfe and Jack Vance; "The Dying Earth looms; and with his opulent style, Latinate wit, and quick-fire philosophizing, Hughes genuinely captures the splendid ironic textures of Vance's writing, contriving a wonderful aperitif for those proceeding to Vance's series, or to any of that author's fantastic writing."

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+ Jones, Gwyneth : Bold as Love
(Night Shade Books 1-597800-02-3, $25.95, 286pp, hardcover, October 2005, cover illustration Mike Dringengberg) First US edition (UK: Gollancz, August 2001)

First US edition of Jones' 2001 novel, winner of the 2002 Arthur C. Clarke Award and finalist for both the British Fantasy and British SF awards.
• It's a near-future fantasy about politics and rock music, first in a series that has followed with Castles Made of Sand (2002), Midnight Lamp (2003), and Band of Gypsies (2005). This edition includes a bibliography and an afterword.
• The publisher's page has a description: "Dissolution Summer: the soon-to-be-former UK was desperate. The world was in the grip of a fearsome economic depression. The anti-globalization movement threatened stability throughout Europe, supported by rioting youth, bitterly disaffected voters, and encroaching environmental doom. ..."
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews of this edition; PW concludes "Though the story starts out like dark cyberpunk, it gradually modulates into something much stranger as characters find their hidden powers and take on the attributes of Arthurian fantasy. References to Jimi Hendrix and other '60s and '70s rockers abound. Jones's vision is unremittingly dark and her basic premise may strike some as a bit silly, but this novel packs considerable power."

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* Kelly, James Patrick : Burn
(Tachyon Publications 1-892391-27-9, $19.95, 178pp, hardcover, November 2005, cover illustration John Picacio)

Short SF novel about a billionaire who tries to remake a colony world in the manner of Thoreau's Walden, and the original settlers who resist.
• The author is providing free podcasts, a chapter at a time, of the work; his website provides links.
• The podcast event was boing boinged. Kelly's site also links to an interview he did with New Hampshire Public Radio.

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* Lake, Jay, ed. : TEL: Stories
(Wheatland Press 0-9755903-3-2, $17.5, 174pp, trade paperback, September 2005)

Anthology of 28 stories, most of them original to this book, with 2 reprints, by Greer Gilman (Nebula nominated "Jack Daw's Pack") and Dean Wesley Smith.
• Lake's introduction explains that these stories exhibit "experiments and extremes of style and vision" compared to those that fit the "voices" of the Polyphony anthologies and his other projects. Lake's website describes the book as "dedicated to the idea that there is no such thing as stylistic excess."
• Authors include Carrie Vaughn, Tim Pratt, Greg Beatty, Forrest Aguirre, Sonya Taaffe, Ruth Nestvold, Jeff VanderMeer, and Gregory Feeley.
• The publisher's page has the back cover blurbs.
• Steven H Silver's online review provides the complete table of contents and advises that "Reading all of the stories in Tel:Stories in a row may cause severe depression for the reader and it is amazing that Lake was able to complete the task of compiling this anthology given that he may have read many more similar tales before settling on these. Despite the overall air of futility and depression, the twenty-eight stories in Tel:Stories are well-written and, perhaps because of their depressing nature or perhaps because of their literary excesses, stay with the reader long after the book is closed."

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* Layne, Deborah, & Jay Lake, eds. : Polyphony, Volume 5
(Wheatland Press 0-9755903-5-9, $18.95, 419pp, trade paperback, October 2005)

Anthology of 31 original stories. Authors include Heather Shaw, Bruce Holland Rogers, Jeff VanderMeer, Robert Freeman Wexler, Forrest Aguirre, Nick Mamatas, Ray Vukcevich, Theodora Goss, Jay Caselberg, Leslie What, and d.g.k. goldberg.
• The publisher's page for the book has the complete table of contents.
• Nick Gevers reviewed the book in the October issue of Locus Magazine, concluding "This full-spectrum gamut of fine stories is a cascade of thoughtful wonder, certain to be counted among the best anthologies of the year. Polyphony has become an invaluable literary fixture, and long may it continue."

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* Lilley, Ernest, ed. : Future Washington
(WFSA 0-9621725-4-5, $16.95, 290pp, trade paperback, 2005, cover illustration Mike Clarke)

Anthology of 16 original stories about Washington DC. Authors include Jack McDevitt, Kim Stanley Robinson, Jane Lindskold, Joe Haldeman, L. Neil Smith, Sean McMullen, Allen M. Steele, Cory Doctorow, and James Alan Gardner.
• The book has its own website, with a cover scan and the back cover copy.
• Nick Gevers reviews the book in the upcoming December issue of Locus Magazine.

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+ Priest, Christopher : The Separation
(Old Earth Books 1-882968-33-6, $25, 338pp, hardcover, December 2005) First US edition (UK: Scribners, July 2002)

First US edition of the celebrated alternate history SF novel that was originally issued only in trade paperback (not hardcover) by its UK publisher. (Though another UK publisher, Gollancz, did issue a hardcover edition a year later, in 2003.) The book went on to win the 2003 Arthur C. Clarke Award and the 2003 British SF Association Award, and was a finalist for that year's Campbell and Sidewise awards. And it just won a Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire for best translated novel.
• The novel is about twin brothers, Jack and Joe Sawyer, one a pacifist and one a warrior, and their involvement in the early years of World War II.
• The publisher's page for the book has a description and quotes from reviews, including John Clute's, including it as one of the "four great novels of World War II in the literature of the fantastic", and Publishers Weekly's starred review (also on the Amazon page), from its October 17th issue, which concludes "Many alternative history novels are bloodless extrapolations from mountains of data, but this one quietly builds characters you care about -- then leaves their dilemmas unresolved as they try to believe that what they have done is 'right.' "

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* Roberson, Chris, ed. : Adventure, Vol. 1
(MonkeyBrain Books 1-932265-13-9, $14.95, 393pp, trade paperback, November 2005, jacket art John Picacio)

Anthology of 17 original stories, "the first volume of an annual anthology of original fiction in the spirit of early twentieth-century pulp fiction magazines".
• Authors include Mike Resnick, John Meaney, Lou Anders, Kage Baker, Paul Di Filippo, Kim Newman, Neal Asher, and Michael Moorcock.
• The publisher's page for the book includes the complete list of authors.
• Locus Magazine ran reviews by Rich Horton, in the October issue, and Nick Gevers, in November. Gevers cites Kage Baker's story as the "best tale here"; Horton focuses on stories by Resnick, Chris Nakashima-Brown, Meaney, and others, concluding that the book has "Enjoyable stories, well written, and quite distinctly full of adventure."

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* Swanwick, Michael : The Periodic Table of Science Fiction
(UK: PS Publishing 1-904619-00-2, $45, 7+274pp, hardcover, July 2005)

Collection of 118 short-short stories, one for each element of the periodic table, all first published by Sci Fiction as Michael Swanwick's Periodic Table of Science Fiction.
• The book has an introduction by Theodore Gray of theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable, and an afterword by the author.
• The publisher's page for the book has a description. A slipcased hardcover edition is also available.

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* Williams, Liz : Snake Agent
(Night Shade Books 1-59780-018-X, $24.95, hardcover, September 2005, cover by Jon Foster)

Sf/occult thriller about a Singapore detective in charge of supernatural and mystical investigations. First of a planned series.
• The publisher's page for the book has a description. "Liz Williams delivers the first in a series of near future occult thrillers that feature an audaciously textured mix of magic and futuristic technology in a far eastern setting that is iconic and thrilling." There's also a limited edition available, for $49, with an additional story, "Insecticide".
• Amazon has reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist; the latter concludes "Twice nominated for Philip K. Dick awards, Williams should easily qualify for another with this original and stirring blend of futuristic technology and chilling excursions into postmortem landscapes. This first odd-couple pairing of mortal Chen and immortal Zhu Irzh opens a prospective series."
• Faren Miller reviewed the book in the August issue of Locus Magazine, concluding "This exotic amalgam of police procedural, SF, comic fantasy and horror is a delight from start to finish."

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* Zambreno, Mary Frances : Invisible Pleasures
(American Fantasy Press 0-9610352-4-2, $25, 12+241pp, hardcover, December 2005, cover art Douglas Klauba)

Collection of 18 stories, 4 of them original to this volume. Reprinted stories first appeared from 1988 to 2000 in various magazines and anthologies.
• There's an introduction by Jane Yolen, and an introduction to each story by the author.
• The publisher's page for the book has the description from the front cover flap.
• Amazon has the same description, plus the author bio.

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