Locus Online: New Books, end of April 2006

* David, James S. : Thunder of Time
(Forge 0-765-30770-7, $27.95, 400pp, hardcover, April 2006)

SF time-travel novel, sequel to the author's first novel Footprints of Thunder (1995), about time-rifts that set dinosaurs loose in the present day. In this book efforts to seal the time rifts are complicated by an environmentalist's attempt to use the rifts to transform Earth into a new Garden of Eden.
• The author has an unofficial site that hasn't been updated since 2000.
• Amazon has reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist; the former calls it an "action-packed but formulaic sequel" to the earlier book, while the latter concludes "David's storytelling has markedly improved since Footprints, and this book includes enough toothsome confrontations and century hopping to please both dinosaur and time-travel aficionados."

(Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

* Di Filippo, Paul : Shuteye for the Timebroker
(Thunder's Mouth Press 1-56025-817-9, $15.95, 312pp, trade paperback, May 2006, cover painting Todd Schorr)

Collection of 15 stories, 2 of them original to this book, the others first published from 1990 through 2006 in sources including Interzone and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Amazing Stories and Future Shocks, Miami Metropolis and bOING-bOING.
• The publisher's page has a description.
• The author's website displays a random selection of his trademark cut-and-paste correspondence (refresh the page), as well as a bibliography, links to reviews, etc.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which says the stories "show his command of a colorful palette of ideas and approaches. ... Most of the stories percolate with the author's trademark gushes of wit and humor, but several of the best are deadly earnest, including "Underground," a spooker set in the New York City subway system, and "Shadowboxer," a tale of a psychic assassin fighting 'the war on terror' that brilliantly captures the moral ambiguity of attitudes in post-9/11 America."

(Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

* Harper, Steven : Dead Man on the Moon : An L.C.S.I. Novel
(Phobos Impact 0977070824, $14.95, 248pp, trade paperback, April 2006)

SF novel about the investigation of a murder on a Lunar colony.
• Amazon has a brief description; "Sci-Fi Meets CSI."
• The author, who also writes as Steven Piziks, has a webpage with a bibliography, background information, and a blog.

(Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

+ Johnson, Jane : The Secret Country
(Simon & Schuster 1416907122, $14.95, 323pp, hardcover, May 2006, cover art Greg Call)

Young adult fantasy novel, first published in 2005 by Simon & Schuster UK, about a boy with one green eye and one brown eye who discovers that his mother was queen in a placed called the Secret Country, and he is a prince who must save the land from evil.
• The author is an editor for HarperCollins Voyager who has also published fiction as Jude Fisher and (with M. John Harrison) Gabriel King. SF Site ran this interview with her in 2005.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has a review from School Library Journal; "This readable, accessible fantasy, with its likable and all-too-human young hero, is reminiscent of C. S. Lewis's Narnia stories (HarperCollins). The writing is smooth and clear, and the action flows quickly, enlivened by touches of humor."

(Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

* Matthews, Susan R. : Warring States
(Meisha Merlin 1592220940, $16.95, 395pp, trade paperback, January 2006, cover art Chris McGrath)

SF novel, latest in the author's Judiciary universe, which began with An Exchange of Hostages (1997) and followed with Prisoner of Conscience (1998), Hour of Judgment (1999), Angel of Destruction (2001), and The Devil and Deep Space (2002), about the surgeon/inquisitor Andrej Kosciusko.
• The author's site has this page about the book. The publisher's page has the same description, plus links to an excerpt and quotes from reviews.
• Despite the January publication date, a note from the author on the Amazon page acknowledges delays at the printer. Amazon also has reader reviews.

(Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

* Moore, John : Bad Prince Charlie
(Ace 0-441-01396-1, $6.99, 230pp, mass market paperback, May 2006, cover art Walter Velez)

Humorous fantasy novel about a kingdom that needs an incompetent ruler.
• The author's site has a longer description, which also appears on the publisher's page.

(Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

* Murphy, C. E. : Thunderbird Falls
(Luna 0-373-80235-8, $14.95, 408pp, trade paperback, May 2006)

Urban fantasy novel about a police mechanic whoh has shamanic powers, sequel to the author's first novel Urban Shaman (2005). This book concerns a murder investigation whose victim belonged to a coven of witches attempting to summon the ancient demi-god Virissong.
• The author's website has an excerpt.
• Carolyn Cushman's review in the April issue of Locus concluded "one of the most involving and entertaining new supernatural mystery series in an increasingly crowded field."

(Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

+ Nicholson, William : Seeker
(Harcourt 0-15-205768-4, $17, 413pp, hardcover, May 2006, jacket illustration Douglas Mullen) First US edition (UK: Egmont, September 2005)

YA fantasy novel, first book of the "Noble Warriors", about three teens who attempt to gain admittance into the Nomana, an order of warrior monks.
• The publisher's page has a description and excerpt.
• Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt.
• Carolyn Cushman's review in the May issue of Locus Magazine says "Nicholson's new YA fantasy series, The Noble Warriors, promises to be much more a genre fantasy than his previous Wind on Fire trilogy" and concludes "Nicholson's real strength is his ability to create vivid scenes full of dynamic action and quirky characters, keeping things moving in cinematic style for an entertaining read."

(Thu 20 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

* Sage, Angie : Septimus Heap, Book Two: Flyte
(HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books 0-06-057735-5, $17.99, 532pp, hardcover, March 2006, jacket art Mark Zug)

YA fantasy novel, second of a trilogy following Magyk, about a boy who becomes an apprentice wizard. The book has illustrations by Mark Zug, and comes with a mini-CD with games and other extras.
• The series' website, septimusheap.com, has information about the author, games, excerpts, etc.
• Amazon has numerous reader reviews.

(Thu 20 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

+ Sketchley, Martin : The Destiny Mask
(Pyr 1-59102-439-0, $15, 365pp, trade paperback, April 2006, jacket illustration Dave Seeley) First US edition (UK: Simon & Schuster UK, April 2005)

SF novel, second in the Structure trilogy following The Affinity Trap (Pyr 2005). In this book two twins raised apart each believe they are heir to a royal household.
• Pyr's website has a description, a chapter excerpt, and a quote from Cheryl Morgan's review.
• Sketchley's website has this page about the book, with a description and quotes from reviews, and a preview of the third book, The Liberty Gun.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review and several posts by the author.

(Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

* Spencer, Wen : Wolf Who Rules
(Baen 1-4165-2055-4, $25, 356pp, hardcover, April 2006, jacket illustration Kurt Miller)

Fantasy novel, sequel to Tinker (2003), in which near-future Pittsburgh borders the land of the elves.
• Baen's site has a description and links to several chapters.
• The author's site has this page for the book, including Chapter One.
• Carolyn Cushman reviewed the book in the April issue of Locus Magazine, concluding "Engagingly quirky characters, culture clashes, magic, high-tech devices, and even spaceships combine in a rousing worlds-spanning adventure."

(Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

+ Williams, Sean : The Crooked Letter
(Prometheus/Pyr 1-59102-438-2, $25, 508pp, hardcover, April 2006, jacket illustration Greg Bridges) First US edition (Australia: HarperCollins/Voyager, June 2004)

Fantasy novel, first in the "Books of the Cataclysm" series, about two mirror twins, one of whom is murdered, putting them in two of the many separate 'realms' of existence.
• Pyr's website has this description and a chapter excerpt.
• The author's website has the blurb and quotes from reviews. The bibliography page lists the following three titles in the series, two of them already published in Australia and due from Pyr this year and next.
• This novel won both the Aurealis and Ditmar awards in 2005, the only fantasy novel to have won both Australian awards.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, as well as "AmazonConnect" posts by the author, one of which comments "My fantasy novels repeatedly examine what constitutes family, particularly the father-son bond. The Crooked Letter is my attempt to imagine how magic, gods and the afterlife would work in a Darwinian setting, mixed with the multiverse and all sorts of other stuff."
• Jonathan Strahan blogs about the series, with chapter excerpts of all four books, while the author blogs about whether the series is 'hard fantasy'.

(Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

	MONITOR New Books April #2 Mike Allen David Drake Simon R. Green Elizabeth Knox Justine Larbalestier David Mitchell Sharyn November Robert Silverberg Scott Westerfeld George Zebrowski New Books April #1 Mario Acevedo Ben Bova Simon Brown L. Timmel Duchamp Raymond E. Feist Kate Forsyth David D. Friedman Kim Harrison et al Tracy & Laura Hickman David Keck Steven L. Kent Jane Lindskold Ian McDonald L.E. Modesitt Jr. John Picacio Jennifer Roberson Peter Wludyka 2006 Archive 2005 Archive Advertisement KEY This page lists selected newly published SFFH books seen by Locus Online (independently from the listings compiled by Locus Magazine). Review copies received will be listed (though reprints and reissues are on other pages), but not galleys or advance reading copies. Selections, some based only on bookstore sightings, are at the discretion of Locus Online. * = first edition + = first US edition Date with publisher info is official publication month; Date in parentheses at paragraph end is date seen or received. LINKS Links Portal Bookseller Links Your purchase of books through Amazon.com and Amazon UK links (click on titles or covers) helps support Locus Online Publisher Links E-mail Locus Online		New SF, Fantasy, and Horror books seen : late-April 2006 posted 4 May 2006 * David, James S. : Thunder of Time (Forge 0-765-30770-7, $27.95, 400pp, hardcover, April 2006) SF time-travel novel, sequel to the author's first novel Footprints of Thunder (1995), about time-rifts that set dinosaurs loose in the present day. In this book efforts to seal the time rifts are complicated by an environmentalist's attempt to use the rifts to transform Earth into a new Garden of Eden. • The author has an unofficial site that hasn't been updated since 2000. • Amazon has reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist; the former calls it an "action-packed but formulaic sequel" to the earlier book, while the latter concludes "David's storytelling has markedly improved since Footprints, and this book includes enough toothsome confrontations and century hopping to please both dinosaur and time-travel aficionados." (Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon \| BookSense • (Directory Entry) \| * Di Filippo, Paul : Shuteye for the Timebroker (Thunder's Mouth Press 1-56025-817-9, $15.95, 312pp, trade paperback, May 2006, cover painting Todd Schorr) Collection of 15 stories, 2 of them original to this book, the others first published from 1990 through 2006 in sources including Interzone and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Amazing Stories and Future Shocks, Miami Metropolis and bOING-bOING. • The publisher's page has a description. • The author's website displays a random selection of his trademark cut-and-paste correspondence (refresh the page), as well as a bibliography, links to reviews, etc. • Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which says the stories "show his command of a colorful palette of ideas and approaches. ... Most of the stories percolate with the author's trademark gushes of wit and humor, but several of the best are deadly earnest, including "Underground," a spooker set in the New York City subway system, and "Shadowboxer," a tale of a psychic assassin fighting 'the war on terror' that brilliantly captures the moral ambiguity of attitudes in post-9/11 America." (Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon \| BookSense • (Directory Entry) \| * Harper, Steven : Dead Man on the Moon : An L.C.S.I. Novel (Phobos Impact 0977070824, $14.95, 248pp, trade paperback, April 2006) SF novel about the investigation of a murder on a Lunar colony. • Amazon has a brief description; "Sci-Fi Meets CSI." • The author, who also writes as Steven Piziks, has a webpage with a bibliography, background information, and a blog. (Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon \| BookSense • (Directory Entry) \| + Johnson, Jane : The Secret Country (Simon & Schuster 1416907122, $14.95, 323pp, hardcover, May 2006, cover art Greg Call) Young adult fantasy novel, first published in 2005 by Simon & Schuster UK, about a boy with one green eye and one brown eye who discovers that his mother was queen in a placed called the Secret Country, and he is a prince who must save the land from evil. • The author is an editor for HarperCollins Voyager who has also published fiction as Jude Fisher and (with M. John Harrison) Gabriel King. SF Site ran this interview with her in 2005. • The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt. • Amazon has a review from School Library Journal; "This readable, accessible fantasy, with its likable and all-too-human young hero, is reminiscent of C. S. Lewis's Narnia stories (HarperCollins). The writing is smooth and clear, and the action flows quickly, enlivened by touches of humor." (Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon \| BookSense • (Directory Entry) \| * Matthews, Susan R. : Warring States (Meisha Merlin 1592220940, $16.95, 395pp, trade paperback, January 2006, cover art Chris McGrath) SF novel, latest in the author's Judiciary universe, which began with An Exchange of Hostages (1997) and followed with Prisoner of Conscience (1998), Hour of Judgment (1999), Angel of Destruction (2001), and The Devil and Deep Space (2002), about the surgeon/inquisitor Andrej Kosciusko. • The author's site has this page about the book. The publisher's page has the same description, plus links to an excerpt and quotes from reviews. • Despite the January publication date, a note from the author on the Amazon page acknowledges delays at the printer. Amazon also has reader reviews. (Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon \| BookSense • (Directory Entry) \| * Moore, John : Bad Prince Charlie (Ace 0-441-01396-1, $6.99, 230pp, mass market paperback, May 2006, cover art Walter Velez) Humorous fantasy novel about a kingdom that needs an incompetent ruler. • The author's site has a longer description, which also appears on the publisher's page. (Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon \| BookSense • (Directory Entry) \| * Murphy, C. E. : Thunderbird Falls (Luna 0-373-80235-8, $14.95, 408pp, trade paperback, May 2006) Urban fantasy novel about a police mechanic whoh has shamanic powers, sequel to the author's first novel Urban Shaman (2005). This book concerns a murder investigation whose victim belonged to a coven of witches attempting to summon the ancient demi-god Virissong. • The author's website has an excerpt. • Carolyn Cushman's review in the April issue of Locus concluded "one of the most involving and entertaining new supernatural mystery series in an increasingly crowded field." (Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon \| BookSense • (Directory Entry) \| + Nicholson, William : Seeker (Harcourt 0-15-205768-4, $17, 413pp, hardcover, May 2006, jacket illustration Douglas Mullen) First US edition (UK: Egmont, September 2005) YA fantasy novel, first book of the "Noble Warriors", about three teens who attempt to gain admittance into the Nomana, an order of warrior monks. • The publisher's page has a description and excerpt. • Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt. • Carolyn Cushman's review in the May issue of Locus Magazine says "Nicholson's new YA fantasy series, The Noble Warriors, promises to be much more a genre fantasy than his previous Wind on Fire trilogy" and concludes "Nicholson's real strength is his ability to create vivid scenes full of dynamic action and quirky characters, keeping things moving in cinematic style for an entertaining read." (Thu 20 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon \| BookSense • (Directory Entry) \| * Sage, Angie : Septimus Heap, Book Two: Flyte (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books 0-06-057735-5, $17.99, 532pp, hardcover, March 2006, jacket art Mark Zug) YA fantasy novel, second of a trilogy following Magyk, about a boy who becomes an apprentice wizard. The book has illustrations by Mark Zug, and comes with a mini-CD with games and other extras. • The series' website, septimusheap.com, has information about the author, games, excerpts, etc. • Amazon has numerous reader reviews. (Thu 20 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon \| BookSense • (Directory Entry) \| + Sketchley, Martin : The Destiny Mask (Pyr 1-59102-439-0, $15, 365pp, trade paperback, April 2006, jacket illustration Dave Seeley) First US edition (UK: Simon & Schuster UK, April 2005) SF novel, second in the Structure trilogy following The Affinity Trap (Pyr 2005). In this book two twins raised apart each believe they are heir to a royal household. • Pyr's website has a description, a chapter excerpt, and a quote from Cheryl Morgan's review. • Sketchley's website has this page about the book, with a description and quotes from reviews, and a preview of the third book, The Liberty Gun. • Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review and several posts by the author. (Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon \| BookSense • (Directory Entry) \| * Spencer, Wen : Wolf Who Rules (Baen 1-4165-2055-4, $25, 356pp, hardcover, April 2006, jacket illustration Kurt Miller) Fantasy novel, sequel to Tinker (2003), in which near-future Pittsburgh borders the land of the elves. • Baen's site has a description and links to several chapters. • The author's site has this page for the book, including Chapter One. • Carolyn Cushman reviewed the book in the April issue of Locus Magazine, concluding "Engagingly quirky characters, culture clashes, magic, high-tech devices, and even spaceships combine in a rousing worlds-spanning adventure." (Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon \| BookSense • (Directory Entry) \| + Williams, Sean : The Crooked Letter (Prometheus/Pyr 1-59102-438-2, $25, 508pp, hardcover, April 2006, jacket illustration Greg Bridges) First US edition (Australia: HarperCollins/Voyager, June 2004) Fantasy novel, first in the "Books of the Cataclysm" series, about two mirror twins, one of whom is murdered, putting them in two of the many separate 'realms' of existence. • Pyr's website has this description and a chapter excerpt. • The author's website has the blurb and quotes from reviews. The bibliography page lists the following three titles in the series, two of them already published in Australia and due from Pyr this year and next. • This novel won both the Aurealis and Ditmar awards in 2005, the only fantasy novel to have won both Australian awards. • Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, as well as "AmazonConnect" posts by the author, one of which comments "My fantasy novels repeatedly examine what constitutes family, particularly the father-son bond. The Crooked Letter is my attempt to imagine how magic, gods and the afterlife would work in a Darwinian setting, mixed with the multiverse and all sorts of other stuff." • Jonathan Strahan blogs about the series, with chapter excerpts of all four books, while the author blogs about whether the series is 'hard fantasy'. (Tue 25 Apr 2006) • Purchase this book from Amazon \| BookSense • (Directory Entry) \| Previous New Books: April new books #2
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