* Anderson, Kevin J. : The Saga of Seven Suns, Book 5: Of Fire and Night
(Warner Aspect 0-446-57718-9, $25.99, 15+526pp, hardcover, July 2006, jacket illustration Steve Youll)

SF novel, fifth in the "Saga of Seven Suns" series following Hidden Empire, A Forest of Stars, Horizon Storms, and Scattered Suns, concerning interstellar war among humans, renegade robots, and various alien races.
• Anderson's website has this description. The series page indicates two more volumes forthcoming.
• The publisher's website has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews; the former's starred review, from its May 22nd issue, calls it "fabulous" and concludes "Expertly juggling a huge cast and multiple story lines, Anderson unleashes major firepower as he sets the scene for the sixth and final chapter in an SF series more entertaining than a 3-D superstar game of outerspace Twister."

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* Barry, Dave, & Ridley Pearson : Peter and the Shadow Thieves
(Hyperion Books for Children/Disney Editions 078683787X, $18.99, 556pp, hardcover, July 2006, jacket illustration Greg Call)

YA fantasy novel, second in a series of prequels to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, following Peter and the Starcatchers (2004). In this book Peter returns to London with Tinker Bell, and combats the evil Lord Ombra.
• The book has its own website, www.peterandthestarcatchers.com, with a description, list of characters, background on the authors, and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Booklist review by GraceAnne DeCandido, which says the authors "do not disappoint" and concludes "Readers will relish the chance to further explore the backstory of a favorite childhood tale, and hope for a third installment."

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* Boston, Bruce : Shades Fantastic
(Gromagon Press 0-9776665-3-0, $6.95, 50pp, chapbook, 2006, cover illustration Marge Simon)

Collection of 37 poems, 5 of them original to this volume; others are reprinted from publications including Asimov's SF Magazine, Contemporary Rhyme, Dreams and Nightmares, Full Unit Hookup, The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Strange Horizons, Star*Line, and Talebones. Includes illustrations by Marge Simon.
• Titles include Asimov's Readers Award winner "Heavy Weather".
• Boston's website has this description. The publisher's site has this page with two excerpts and another excerpt.
• The publisher and author are donating half the total sales revenues to the Rhysling Endowment Fund of the Science Fiction Poetry Association.

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* Brin, David, & Matthew Woodring Stover : Star Wars on Trial
(Ben Bella 193210089X, $17.95, 386pp, trade paperback, July 2006, cover art Ralph Voltz)

Nonfiction, subtitled "Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Debate the Most Popular Science Fiction Films of All Time", consisting of alternating essays by Brin and Stover and numerous contributors respectively attacking and defending the Star Wars films on various issues, the central theme being "Is George Lucas a hero for bringing science fiction to a mass audience or a villain who doesn't understand the genre he's working for?"
• BenBella's SmartPop Books site has this description of the book, and this PDF preview listing the issues and contributors, who include Adam Roberts, Scott Lynch, Lou Anders, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Richard Garfinkle, Ken Wharton, Nick Mamatas, and others.
• Amazon has the brief book description.

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+ Cooper, Susan : Victory
(Simon & Schuster/McElderry 1-4169-1477-3, $16.95, 196pp, hardcover, July 2006, jacket illustration Steve Rawlings)

Young-adult fantasy novel about a modern-day girl and a boy in 1803 who are linked via the boy's service aboard Lord Nelson's H.M.S. Victory.
• The first edition was published in the UK by The Bodley Head in March 2006.
• Cooper's site has this page for the book, with an excerpt.
• Amazon has reviews from School Library Journal and Booklist; the latter's starred review concludes "Cooper uses a present-tense, third-person narrative to tell Molly's story, while Sam's unfolds in past-tense, first-person reflections. Both tales are so involving that readers will find themselves reluctant to let go of one narrator and switch to the other at a chapter's end. Seamlessly weaving details of period seamanship into the narrative, Cooper offers a vivid historical tale within the framework of a compelling modern story."

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* Design Studio Press : Concept Design 2
(Design Studio Press 1-933492-03-1, $54.95, 191pp, hardcover, April 2006)

Art book, subtitled "Works from Seven Los Angeles Entertainment Designers And Seventeen Guest Artists", consisting of color art and b&w sketches by numerous artists associated with film, TV, advertising, etc.
• The seven principal artists are Mark Goerner, Nick Pugh, Scott Robertson, James Clyne, Steve Burg, Neville Page, and Harald Belker. Among the 'guest artists' is Stephan Martiniere.
• The publisher's site has this page with a description and links to a slide show and a static gallery.
• An earlier book, Concept Design, focusing on the original seven designers, was published in 2003.

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* Dozois, Gardner, ed. : The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-third Annual Collection
(St. Martin's 0-312-35335-9, $35, 52+660pp, hardcover, July 2006, jacket illustration Stephan Martiniere)

Anthology of 30 stories first published in 2005, a 30-page "Summation: 2005", and 10 pages of 'honorable mentions'. Stories include Ian McDonald's "The Little Goddess", Paolo Bacigalupi's Sturgeon Award-winning "The Calorie Man", Michael Swanwick's "Triceratops Summer", David Gerrold's "In the Quake Zone", Vonda N. McIntyre's "Little Faces", Harry Turtledove's "Audobon in Atlantis", and James Patrick Kelly's "Burn".
• The book is also available in trade paperback.
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews the book (along with other year's-best anthologies) in the August issue of Locus Magazine.

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* Hartwell, David G., & Kathryn Cramer, eds. : The Space Opera Renaissance
(Tor 0-765-30617-4, $39.95, 941pp, hardcover, July 2006, jacket art NASA)

Anthology of 32 stories, first published from 1929 to 2003, tracing the evolution of 'space opera' SF. Authors include Edmond Hamilton, Jack Williamson, Cordwainer Smith, Samuel R. Delany ("Empire Star"), David Brin, Iain M. Banks, Dan Simmons, David Weber, Allen Steele, Gregory Benford, Donald Kingsbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, Stephen Baxter, Alastair Reynolds, Charles Stross, and John C. Wright, among many others.
• The editors provide an introduction about the history of the form, and lengthy introductions to the stories.
• SF Signal has posted this table of contents listing.
• Amazon has a description and a review by Harriet Klausner.
• A long, incisive review by Gary K. Wolfe appeared in the July issue of Locus Magazine.

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+ Kerr, Katharine : The Gold Falcon
(DAW 0-7564-0386-3, $24.95, 496pp, hardcover, July 2006, jacket painting Jody A. Lee)

Fantasy Novel, Book One of "The Silver Wyrm".
• The author's website, which tends to hang Locus Online's browser, has this excerpt. Kerr contributes to the Deep Genre group blog.

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* McCaffrey, Anne, & Todd McCaffrey : Dragon's Fire
(Ballantine Del Rey 0-345-48028-7, $24.95, 366pp, hardcover, August 2006, jacket illustration Paul Youll)

SF novel, the second collaboration between Anne McCaffrey and her son Todd following Dragon's Kin (2003), in the Pern series.
• Del Rey's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has PW and Booklist reviews; the latter's Sally Estes concludes "the interactions between humans, dragons, fire lizards, and whers put the richly detailed story on a par with the rest of the Pern canon."

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* Park, Paul : The Tourmaline
(Tor 0-765-31441-X, $24.95, 350pp, hardcover, July 2006, jacket art John Jude Palencar)

Fantasy novel, second in the "White Tyger" tetralogy following A Princess of Roumania (2005), set in an alternate world where Roumania and Germany dominate Europe. This volume continues the adventures of contemporary teenager Miranda Popescu, who becomes separated from her friends Peter and Andromeda.
• This is a SciFi.com "essential book of the month", with a description and excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews; the former concluces "His long Roumanian rhapsody resembles the ambiguous gem of its title that holds the power to ignite love -- it both glows coming-of-age green and empurples with the passion for power."
• Gary K. Wolfe, Faren Miller, and Nick Gevers all review the book in the July issue of Locus Magazine; Wolfe concludes "this is no ordinary fantasy novel and no ordinary fantasy world, and it could be leading us somewhere wonderful"; Gevers calls it "the second panel of a quartet, and necessarily inconclusive in some ways; but it has originality and thematic depth enough for an entire trilogy."

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