Neal Asher, The Engineer Reconditioned (Wildside Press/Cosmos Books Jan 2006)

Asher, one of the UK’s crop of noted new writers, adds three stories and new story notes to this first US edition of his collection, originally published in the UK in 1998 by Tanjen as The Engineer.

Robert Borski, The Long and the Short of It (iUniverse Feb 2006)

Borski follows up his critically acclaimed Solar Labyrinth with a new collection of 14 essays in which he attempts to reveal the hidden clues and meanings in the devious and occasionally cryptic works of Gene Wolfe, from The Fifth Head of Cerberus to The Book of the Short Sun.

Ben Bova, Titan (Tor Mar 2006)

Bova’s Grand Tour of the Solar System moves to Saturn, where an attempt to look for life on the moon Titan sets off intrigue and sabotage on an orbiting colony.

Damien Broderick, K-Machines (Thunder's Mouth Press Mar 2006)

Computational cosmology, SF in-jokes, and humorous adventure mix in this second half of the Players in the Contest of Worlds diptych, Broderick’s ambitious science-fantasy space opera in Zelazny style. August Seebeck and his extended family struggle to survive as they figure out the rules behind the interstellar contest in which they find themselves.

Keith Brooke, Genetopia (Prometheus/Pyr Feb 2006)

A young man travels across a fascinating far-future Earth ruled by True humans, seeking his genetically impure sister, sold into slavery. ‘‘…a minor masterpiece that should usher Brooke at last into the recognized front ranks of SF writers.’’ [Nick Gevers]

Kate Elliott, Crown of Stars (DAW Feb 2006)

The Crown of Stars epic fantasy series comes to a dramatic conclusion with this seventh, eponymous volume, as the diverse characters attempt to restore their devastated world and the many plot lines are finally tied together.

Philip Jose Farmer, The Best of Philip José Farmer (Subterranean Press Feb 2006)

The twenty stories in this major collection cover Farmer’s career from 1952 to 1990, demonstrating the wide range of works of this ‘‘astonishingly fertile and anarchic imagination… a writer with no fear, willing to try almost anything in the service of liberating the imagination.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]

Peter F. Hamilton, Judas Unchained (Ballantine Del Rey Mar 2006)

The war with the genocidal aliens known as the Prime continues, but the human Commonwealth begins to realize that an unknown third force is manipulating events in this monumental space opera, the second of two volumes in The Commonwealth Saga (after Pandora’s Star), originally published in the UK by Macmillan (2005).

Leonard S. Marcus, The Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy (Candlewick Press Mar 2006)

Thirteen major young-adult fantasy authors are interviewed in this exceptional YA reference book, which also provides photos (current and as children) of authors including Lloyd Alexander, Ursula K. Le Guin, Madeleine L’Engle, Garth Nix, and Philip Pullman.

Patricia A. McKillip, Solstice Wood (Ace Feb 2006)

Faerie intrudes on contemporary New York in this moody fantasy novel, distantly related to Winter Rose, about a bookstore owner who reluctantly returns to her childhood home and the family legacy – a dangerous entanglement with the fay and their mysterious otherworld in the woods.

Sean McMullen, Voidfarer (Tor Feb 2006)

Pratchett meets H.G. Wells in this third volume of the Moonworlds Saga fantasy series, which introduces Inspector Danolarian of the Wayfarer Constables and his oddball squad as they try to fight off an invasion by the invincible sorcerers of Lupan – a wild and wacky take-off on The War of the Worlds.

John Scalzi, The Ghost Brigades (Tor Mar 2006)

A thrilling standalone sequel to the acclaimed Old Man’s War, this Heinleinesque military SF novel looks at a new branch of the military, the Special Forces, and one young superhuman soldier created from a treasonous scientist’s DNA in a seemingly failed attempt to access the traitor’s electronic memories.

Bruce Sterling, Visionary in Residence (Thunder's Mouth Press Mar 2006)

Sterling explores the nature and boundaries of SF in this collection of 13 stories ranging from traditional SF to cyberpunk and ribofunk, with some unusual variations in between.

Élisabeth Vonarburg, A Game of Perfection (EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Apr 2006)

The second volume in the five-volume Tyranaël series by one of Canada’s most celebrated SF writers. A new generation of colonists on the planet Virginia is seen through the eyes of the telepath Simon as he searches for the source of the mutations that keep developing. Originally published in French by Alire Canada (1996), this is the first English-language edition.

Scott Westerfeld, Midnighters, Book Three: Blue Noon (HarperCollins/Eos Mar 2006)

Westerfeld’s acclaimed young-adult fantasy trilogy concludes in this thrilling third volume. The Midnighters’ secret time threatens to merge with ordinary time, with disastrous results.

Sean Williams & Shane Dix, Geodesica: Descent (Ace Feb 2006)

Exploration of a mysterious alien space labyrinth and interstellar war combine in this Stapledonian space opera of a far-future colony planet destroyed by struggles to control the alien artifact/space maze known as Geodesica. The second volume in a two-part novel begun in Geodesica: Ascent.

Jack Zipes, Lissa Paul, Lynne Vallone, Peter Hunt & Gillian Avery, eds., The Norton Anthology of Children’s Literature: The Traditions in English (Norton Dec 2005)

This monumental anthology covers every facet of children’s literature from early primers to contemporary fiction, with significant coverage of SF, fantasy, fairy tales, legends, and more, including complete texts of longer works such as Robert A. Heinlein’s Podkayne of Mars and E. Nesbit’s The Phoenix and the Carpet.