* Allen, Mike, ed. : Mythic
(Mythic Delirium Books 0-8095-6295-2, $10, 134pp, trade paperback, March 2006, cover art John William Waterhouse, cover design Garry Nurrish)

Anthology of 18 original stories and poems. Authors include Matthew Cheney, Lawrence Schimel, Joe Haldeman, Theodora Goss, Ian Watson, Bud Webster, and Richard Parks.
• This is the first book from Mike Allen's new imprint Mythic Delirium Books. The website has this page displaying the wrap-around cover, with a complete table of contents, and links to several excerpts.
• Available from the website, or Amazon (click on image or title here).

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* Drake, David : Fortress of Glass
(Tor 0-765-31259-X, $25.95, 384pp, hardcover, April 2006, jacket art Donato)

Fantasy novel, first volume in "The Crown of the Isles" trilogy that will conclude the earlier 6-volume "Lord of the Isles" sequence that ran from Lord of the Isles (1997) through Master of the Cauldron (2004). In this book two survivors of the earlier magical peak come together.
• Drake's website has this background about the origin of the series.
• Baen's website has this description of the book, with links to several chapter excerpts.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews; the latter's Roland Green concludes "Drake possesses every skill necessary to make this story thoroughly absorbing, even to new readers. Those who have sailed with him through the preceding two Isles trilogies ought to eagerly demand it."

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* Green, Simon R. : Raising Hell in the Nightside
(SFBC 0-7394-6528-7, $14.99, 530pp, hardcover, March 2006, jacket art Matt Stawicki)

Omnibus of three novels in Green's "Nightside" series about detective John Taylor in an otherworldly realm in the middle of London: Hex and the City (2005), Paths Not Taken (2005), and Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth (2006). The last title just appeared in paperback from Ace.
• This hardcover omnibus edition is available exclusively from the Science Fiction Book Club, which has this description with member reviews. The club published an omnibus of the first three books in the series earlier, Everybody Comes to the Nightside.

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+ Knox, Elizabeth : Dreamhunter
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux 0-374-31853-0, $19, 365pp, trade paperback, March 2006) First US edition (UK: Faber Children's Books, May 2005)

Young-adult fantasy novel, Book One of the Dreamhunter Duet, about a 15-year-old girl who lives next to the Place, a magical land accessible only to Dreamhunters. The UK edition was published as The Rainbow Opera.
• The publisher's site has this description.
• The New Zealand Book Council has this page about the author (from The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature).
• Justine Larbalestier loved it.
• Faren Miller reviews it in the April issue of Locus Magazine, who says it's a "bildungsroman YA appearing from children's/young-adult imprints, but it's also a rich, darkly supernatural tale of a 'hidden world' imbued with dreams."

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+ Larbalestier, Justine : Magic Lessons
(Penguin/Razorbill 1-595-14054-9, $16.99, 275pp, hardcover, March 2006)

Young-adult fantasy novel, second in a trilogy following Magic or Madness (2005), about Reason, a 15-year-old girl from the Australian outback, who in this book is stranded in New York City.
• The author's website has this page about the series, with links to reviews and this excerpt.
• Amazon has the Booklist review.
• Carolyn Cushman reviewed the book in the February issue of Locus Magazine, concluding "[S]ome interesting new developments crop up, and Reason starts to realize it's going to be up to her to find the answers to her problem -- in the next volume."

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* Mitchell, David : Black Swan Green
(Random House 1-4000-6379-5, $23.95, 294pp, hardcover, April 2006)

Literary novel about 13 months in the life of 13-year-old Jason Taylor, in an English village in 1982. The author's previous novel was the partially-SF Cloud Atlas, finalist for the Nebula and Arthur C. Clarke awards, and this book, reviews suggest, has passing fantasy elements.
• The publisher's site has this description, and an excerpt.
• Reviews have been very positive; Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, and the Washington Post Book World review by Ron Charles.

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* November, Sharyn, ed. : Firebirds Rising
(Penguin/Firebird 0-14-240549-3, $19.99, 530pp, hardcover, April 2006, jacket illustration Cliff Nielsen)

Anthology of 16 original young-adult SF and fantasy stories. Authors include Tamora Pierce, Charles de Lint, Kelly Link, Carol Emshwiller, Tanith Lee, Diana Wynne Jones, Patricia A. McKillip, and Emma Bull.
• This is a follow-up to the editor's acclaimed 2003 Firebirds anthology.
• The publisher has this brief description.
• Amazon has the School Library Journal and Booklist reviews.
• Green Man Review has this review by Cat Eldridge, who concludes "As good as Firebirds was, this is a much better anthology with regards to both the writers and their work herein. ... With this superbly edited anthology, November has joined the exalted ranks of Yolen, Datlow, and Windling as one of the best anthology editors ever."

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* Silverberg, Robert : In the Beginning: Tales from the Pulp Era
(Subterranean Press 1-59606-043-3, $40, 335pp, hardcover, February 2006, jacket art Bob Eggleton)

Collection of 16 previously uncollected stories from early in Silverberg's career, first published from 1955 through 1959 in magazines such as Imaginative Tales, Super-Science Fiction, and Fantastic.
• Story titles include "Yokel with Portfolio" (the author's third published story), "Guardian of the Crystal Gate", "The Android Kill", "Come into My Brain", and "Vampires from Outer Space".
• Silverberg's introduction acknowledges that these are not overlooked gems; they are early work: "These are stories in what is now pretty much a lost tradition in science fiction, the simple and unselfconsciously fast-paced adventure story of the pulp-magazine era."
• There's no copyright page listing the original story credits, but Silverberg's introductions describe the circumstances of each story's original publication, many under pseudonyms or with title changes imposed by editors.
• Amazon has Publishers Weekly's starred review, from its November 21st '05 issue: "These are stories that he and his readers can justifiably look back on with affection, if not total admiration."
• Amelia Beamer reviewed the book in the February issue of Locus Magazine, noting that "The introductions to the stories alone make the book worth reading" and "Also, despite their pulp trappings, the stories themselves are readable to a modern audience; around the stock pulp characters and plots we can see edges, both of the craftsmanship Silverberg was developing, and the evolution of the genre."

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* Westerfeld, Scott : Midnighters, Book Three: Blue Noon
(HarperCollins/Eos 0-06-051957-6, $15.99, 375pp, hardcover, March 2006, jacket art Kamil Vojnar)

YA fantasy novel, third in a trilogy about teenagers in a small town in Oklahoma who have access to an extra hour in each day, following The Secret Hour (2004) and Touching Darkness (2005).
• The publisher's site has this description and a chapter excerpt.
• Locus Magazine's April issue New & Notable Books says "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."

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* Zebrowski, George : Black Pockets and Other Dark Thoughts
(Golden Gryphon Press 1-930846-40-1, $24.95, 13+275pp, hardcover, May 2006, jacket painting Bob Eggleton, jacket design Lynne Condellone)

Collection of 19 horror stories, including the 55-page title novella that's original to this volume, plus earlier stories first published from 1972 to present, including revisions of 1981 story "The Alternate" and 1990 story "Lords of Imagination".
• Foreword by Howard Waldrop, and an afterword by the author with notes about the origins of each story.
• The publisher's website has this description, with links to the complete table of contents and the Publishers Weekly review.
• Amazon also has the starred PW review, which says "Veteran SF author Zebrowski (Macrolife) probes the nether reaches of horror in this outstanding story collection."

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