+ Asher, Neal : The Engineer Reconditioned
(Wildside Press/Cosmos Books 0-8095-5676-6, 257pp, trade paperback, June 2006, cover art Ian Field-Richards) First US edition (UK: Tanjen, March 1998)

Collection of 10 stories, including the 90-page novella "The Engineer". This is an expansion of the earlier UK edition, adding 3 stories and new story notes.
• This webpage shows the covers of the original and new editions.
• The book was included among Locus Magazine's New and Notable Books for April.

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+ Ashley, Mike, ed. : The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction
(Carroll & Graf 0786717270, $13.95, 10+562pp, trade paperback, May 2006) First US edition (UK: Robinson, May 2006)

Anthology of 19 "hard sci-fi stories that really push the boundaries", with 3 original stories by Stephen Baxter, Robert Reed, and Jerry Oltion.
• Reprints include stories by Harlan Ellison ("The Region Between", slightly revised for this publication), Theodore Sturgeon, Clifford D. Simak, Greg Egan, Ian McDonald, Greg Bear, James Patrick Kelly, Alastair Reynolds, Cory Doctorow & Charles Stross, Peter F. Hamilton, and Gregory Benford.

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* Bray, Patricia : The First Betrayal
(Bantam Spectra 0-553-58876-1, $6.99, 342pp, mass market paperback, June 2006, cover art Steve Stone)

Fantasy novel, first in new series the "Chronicles of Josan", about a lighthouse keeper who discovers secrets from his past when a lady diplomat is shipwrecked on his island.
• Bantam's site has this description and an excerpt.
• The author's site has the same description, and a different excerpt. Bray also has a LiveJournal blog.
• Amazon has several posts from the author about the book and her attendance at Balticon.

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* Donohue, Keith : The Stolen Child
(Doubleday/Nan A. Talese 0-385-51616-9, $23.95, 319pp, hardcover, May 2006)

Fantasy novel, the author's first novel, about a boy named Henry who is kidnapped by hobgoblins and replaced by a look-alike impostor, following the real Henry and the hobgoblin Henry as they move through their lives over the decades.
• Doubleday's site has this description, which notes its inspiration from the W.B. Yeats poem, and an excerpt.
• The author's site has additional excerpts, notes on music, a reading group guide, etc.
• Amazon has a note from the author, a "story behind the story" discussion, and "early buzz" from its top 100 reviewers, including Harriet Klausner. The Publishers Weekly review calls it a "haunting debut" and "an impressive novel of outsiders whose feelings of alienation are more natural than supernatural".

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* Duchamp, L. Timmel : Renegade
(Aqueduct Press 1-933500-04-2, $19, 616pp, trade paperback, June 2006)

SF novel, second book in the 5-book "Marq'ssan Cycle" following Alanya to Alayna (2005), set in 2077 a year following an alien invasion as US security forces pursue a renegade scientist.
• The publisher's site has this description and a PDF excerpt.
• Amazon has the publisher's description, and a quote from Rick Kleffel's review: "This here is a 616 page pulse-pounding page-turner, based on Duchamp's research into the shenanigans and evil-doings of our own favorite set of spies, the CIA. What would happen to our bureaucrat-overseers, were they to be freed into a landscape overrun by near-civil war, greed and violence?"
• Locus Magazine's New and Notable Books for June says "The second book of the near-future Marq'ssan Cycle finds the world still reeling from the arrival of the alien Marq'ssan. Utopian, dystopian, and thriller elements mix as the Pacific Northwest Free Zone is threatened by one woman's search for missing scientists."

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* Duncan, Dave : Children of Chaos
(Tor 0-765-31483-5, 349pp, hardcover, June 2006, jacket art Daniel Dos Santos)

Fantasy novel, first of a duology, set on a dodecahedral world and concerning four children taken as hostages in a war who are reunited years later.
• This is the latest "Sci Fi Essentials" book promoted by Tor and the Sci Fi Channel, whose website has this description and excerpt.
• Duncan's website calls this the first of the Dodec Books, to be followed by Mother of Lies. The page includes links to reviews and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, which calls the book a "superb fantasy" and "a captivating, adventure-filled story".
• Faren Miller reviews the book in the June issue of Locus Magazine, saying that Duncan "packs a remarkable amount of multi-culturalism, interesting characters, and unusual (sometimes brutal) magic into less than 400 pages."

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* Huff, Tanya : Smoke and Ashes
(DAW 0-7564-0347-2, $24.95, 373pp, hardcover, June 2006, jacket painting John Jude Palencar)

Supernatural fantasy novel, third in a trilogy following Smoke and Shadows and Smoke and Mirrors, about Tony Foster , a wizard-trainee working as a production assistant for a popular TV show about a vampire detective. In this book the show is filming in Vancouver, site of an upcoming Demonic Convergence.
• Amazon has the PW review: "This spinoff from Huff's popular Blood series stands alone as an entertaining supernatural adventure with plenty of sex, violence and sarcastic humor."
• Carolyn Cushman's review in the June '06 issue of Locus Magazine concludes "Frantic demon-fighting action and magical musing provide the thrills, but there's also a lot of humor, with some real laugh-out-loud moments -- and just a bit of romance -- in a truly entertaining mix."

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* Knight, E. E. : Valentine's Exile
(Roc 0-451-46087-1, $23.95, 323pp, hardcover, June 2006, jacket art Steve Stone)

SF novel about human resistance to alien invaders, fifth in the "Vampire Earth" series following Way of the Wolf (2003), Choice of the Cat (2004), Tales of the Thunderbolt (2005), and Valentine's Rising (2005). This is the first book in the series to appear in hardcover.
• The series' website, www.vampireearth.com, has links to background, history, descriptions, etc., and notes that the next book, Valentine's Cause, is due in 2007.
• Amazon has reviews from PW and Booklist, the former concluding "The sympathetic hero, fast-paced action and an intricately detailed milieu set in various well-imagined regions of 21st-century North America make for an entertaining read."

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* Llywelyn, Morgan : The Greener Shore: A Novel of the Druids of Hibernia
(Ballantine Del Rey 0-345-47766-9, $24.95, 320pp, hardcover, May 2006, jacket illustration John Jude Palencar)

Celtic fantasy novel, sequel to Druids (1991), about a tribe of druids fleeing Roman invaders who reach Ireland (Hibernia).
• The author's official site is Completist.com.
• Del Rey's site has this description, with advance praise and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, which calls it "a beautifully told adventure story that avoids the usual adventure story clich‚s" and concludes that "Not just fantasy fans will appreciate this gentle, quietly dignified tale".

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* Malmont, Paul : The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril
(Simon & Schuster 0-7432-8785-1, $24, 371pp, hardcover, June 2006)

Historical adventure novel, the author's first novel, with fantasy elements about pulp writers Walter Gibson and Lester Dent, creators of The Shadow and Doc Savage, and they investigate parallel mysteries that involve H.P. Lovecraft, L. Ron Hubbard, Louis L'Amour, and Orson Welles.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the PW and Booklist reviews, the former concluding "Like the pulpsters he reveres, Malmont doesn't let the facts get in the way of his storytelling, and the result is a fun, if wildly improbable, pulp joyride."
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews the book in the June issue of Locus Magazine, saying the book "works on one level as a trivia fest for pulp fans and on another as an effort to re-create, with a fair amount of comic and ironic overtones, the outlandish pacing and overbaked prose of the pulps themselves" and concludes that the book "is exhilarating, and for those who've never heard of Dent or Gibson, it's a fair approximation of what all the fuss was about."

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* Mitchell, Syne : The Last Mortal Man
(Roc 0-451-46094-4, $6.99, 426pp, mass market paperback, June 2006)

SF novel, first book of "The Deathless", about a future transformed by nanotechnology, eliminating death for the wealthy, threatened by "dissemblers".
• The publisher's site has this description.
• The author's website is a bit out of date, but she's maintaining this blog.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its April 24th issue, calling it an "enthralling science fiction thriller" and concluding "Her characters are exceptionally well-drawn, and her philosophizing is skillfully balanced against the unfolding action. This book is the first in a series that should prove fascinating."

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* Newman, Kim : The Man from the Diogenes Club
(MonkeyBrain Books 1932265171, $15.95, 389pp, trade paperback, June 2006, cover illustration and design John Picacio)

Collection of eight stories, one of them original to this volume, about a 1970s secret agent who solves supernatural mysteries. Newman provides notes on the stories and an afterword.
• The publisher's site has this description.
• Newman's site has this listing for the book with the story titles, as well as some background on Richard Jeperson.
• Cheryl Morgan has posted this extended review that in part explores the book's influences; "One thing you quickly learn when reading Newman is that he knows more about books, more about films, more about TV, and quite possibly more about everything, than you do. You could spend all day just looking up the references."

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* Reese, Jenn : Tales of the Chinese Zodiac
(Tropism Press no ISBN, $5, 33pp, chapbook, May 2006)

Chapbook collection of 15 short stories, 12 of them first published by Strange Horizons in 2005, the other three, and two bridging passages, original to this volume.
• The Tropism Press website's description lists the titles and links the original 12 stories to their appearances in Strange Horizons.
• Not available from Amazon; order directly from the publisher.
• The author has a novel, Jade Tiger, forthcoming later this year.

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* Resnick, Mike : New Dreams for Old
(Pyr 1-59102-441-2, $15, 419pp, trade paperback, June 2006)

Collection of 20 SF and fantasy stories, with an introduction by Nancy Kress. Contents include current Hugo Award nominee "Down Memory Lane" and several past Hugo nominees and winners, including "For I Have Touched the Sky", "The 43 Antarean Dynasties" (winner), "The Elephants on Neptune", "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", "Robots Don't Cry", "Travels with My Cats" (winner), and "A Princess of Earth".
• The publisher's site has this description.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, noting that the stories "run the gamut from silly fantasy and far-out detective romps to alternate history and straight-up science fiction" and concluding "These glossy cross-genre stories, which tend not to plumb much emotional depth, showcase Resnick's predilection for dealing with the tragically static nature of the human condition."

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* Saintcrow, Lilith : Working for the Devil
(Warner 0-446-61670-2, $6.99, 382pp, mass market paperback, March 2006, cover illustration Craig White)

Urban fantasy novel, first in the "Dante Valentine" series, about a necromancer hired by the Devil to capture a rogue demon.
• The author's site has this page about the series, and this about the book. She also has a blog.
• The publisher's site has the description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the PW review: "Fans of Laurel K. Hamilton should warm to Saintcrow's dark, evocative debut, though the story's weak relationship thread may disappoint aficionados of the paranormal romance veterans Christine Feehan and Sherrilyn Kenyon."
• Carolyn Cushman reviews it the June issue of Locus Magazine: "It's a highly entertaining start to a new series full of action and a little dark romance."

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* Sarrantonio, Al : Queen of Mars
(Ace 0-441-01411-9, $6.99, 232pp, mass market paperback, June 2006, cover art Matt Stawicki)

SF novel, third in the trilogy following Haydn of Mars and Sebastian of Mars, set on a far future Mars populated by sentient felines. In this volume a princess defends her crown, and the Red Planet's atmosphere begins leaking away.
• The publisher's site has this description.
• Paul Di Filippo reviewed the first book of the trilogy for SF Weekly, grading in an A, describing it as in the planetary romance tradition of Burroughs and Brackett, concluding "Dealing with eternal issues of duty and love, loyalty and sacrifice, intellectual thirst and love of one's homeland, Haydn of Mars is the cat's pajamas."

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Stross, Charles : Toast
(Cosmos Books 0-8095-5603-0, $14.95, 247pp, trade paperback, June 2006)

Collection of 11 stories, revised and expanded from the original 2002 edition, with one story removed and several new ones added. Titles include "Toast: A Con Report", "Antibodies", "A Colder War", and "Lobsters".
• The Asimov's Message Board has this thread about the new edition with comments from Stross.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review of this new edition: "In Stross's worlds, virtual reality is the new frontier, AI is a fact of life and everyone is fluent in the sometimes impenetrable technogeek-speak that goes with the territory. For all that, his characters are familiar and sympathetic hackers, slackers and opportunists, whose lives have not been improved by their technological expertise, and whose adventures he interweaves seamlessly with the circuitry."

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+ Zindell, David : The Lightstone
(Tor 0-765-31129-1, $25.95, 414pp, hardcover, June 2006, jacket art Gordon Crabb) First US edition (UK: HarperCollins/Voyager, August 2001)

Fantasy novel, first volume in the "Ea" series, substantially revised from the original edition published in the UK in 2001 (which was 840 pages long). It's already been followed in Britain by The Lord of Lies (2003) and Black Jade (2005), with one more volume planned.
• This Infinity Plus interview, originally from Interzone, covers this and the author's other books.
• Excerpts from Locus Magazine's 2000 interview with Zindell discuss the premise of this series, among other things.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews; the former cites "Vivid characters and richly detailed settings", the latter's starred review anticipates "his breakthrough to a larger audience".

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