* Baker, Kage : The Machine's Child
(Tor 0-765-31551-3, $24.95, 351pp, hardcover, September 2006, jacket art Paul Youll)

SF novel in the "Company" series, sequel to The Life of the World to Come (2004). In this book Checkerfield, his partners, and Mendoza are ready to fight back against the Company.
• The author's website has this page about the book with a description and excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly ("Baker invests the book with plenty of inventive energy and absurdity") and Booklist ("a lovely addition to the Company saga") reviews.
• Nick Gevers reviews it in the September issue of Locus Magazine, noting that this is the 7th volume in a projected 8-volume series, and calling the book "exciting and moving ... an enjoyable time-traveling rendition of the Ship of Fools template, pirate captain, amnesiac, and split personality dividing cabin space between them."

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* Benson, John, ed. : The Best of Not One of Us
(Prime Books 0-8095-6215-4, $14.95, 170pp, trade paperback, July 2006, cover art Timothy Lantz)

Anthology of 15 stories first published over the past 20 years by small press 'zine Not One of Us.
• Authors include Sonya Taaffe, Gary A. Braunbeck, Wayne Allen Sallee, and Jeffrey Thomas.
• The publisher's website has this page about the book with ordering informaiton.

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* Bigelow, Jane M. H. : Talisman
(Antelios 1-932636-20-x, $19.95, 312pp, trade paperback, April 2006)

Fantasy novel, the author's first novel.
• The author's website describes it as "A fantasy, silk-road-like tale of a woman named Layla, a Donkey named Imchi, and the Goddess of Mirth, Kossinli.", and has a PDF chapter 1 excerpt.
• "Dark true green, heavy in my hand, the emerald called to me. I was too mesmerized by its beauty to hear the footsteps coming up the hall, too fascinated to escape over the rooftops."

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* Card, Orson Scott : Shadow of the Hegemon
(Audio Renaissance 1-59397-480-9, $44.95, CD, September 2006)

Audiobook version of Card's 2001 novel, sequel to Ender's Shadow (1999).
• This unabridged edition, on 11 CDs, is read by David Birney, Scott Brick, and Gabrielle De Cuir.
• Audio Renaissance has this page about the audiobook.

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* Dann, Jack, & Gardner Dozois, eds. : Escape from Earth: New Adventures in Space
(SFBC 978-1-58288-225-3, $14.99, 8+420pp, hardcover, September 2006, jacket art Nicholas Jainschigg)

Anthology of 7 original young-adult SF novellas. Authors are Allen M. Steele, Kage Baker, Geoffrey A. Landis, Orson Scott Card, Walter Jon Williams, Elizabeth Moon, and Joe Haldeman.
• This book is an exclusive publication of the Science Fiction Book Club, whose website has this page for the book with brief descriptions of the stories. Cover flap copy: "Whatever happened to the good old days when authors like Andre Norton and Robert A. Heinlein wrote books for young adults? How come fantasy has all the really cool books like The Bartimaeus Trilogy and Harry Potter, while children's sf lags behind in the excitement department? If you've been lamenting the death of the juvenile, dust off a place on your bookshelf because Escape from Earth resurrects this long-languished tradition with stories that are as vivid, fun and fast-paced as you remember."
• Nick Gevers reviewed the book in the August issue of Locus Magazine -- "a YA collection of impact and real depth, pitched at teenagers, certainly, incorporating and at times pandering to adolescent norms and whims, but of considerable critical and psychological interest for just that reason. Good storytelling does the rest." -- especially recommending the stories by Baker and Williams.

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* Datlow, Ellen, & Terri Windling, eds. : Salon Fantastique
(Thunder's Mouth Press 1-56025-833-0, $16.95, 14+396pp, trade paperback, September 2006, cover design and illustration Jim Zaccaria)

Anthology of 15 original fantasy stories that "straddle the borderline between 'fantasy' and 'mainstream'", according to the press release.
• Authors include Delia Sherman, Richard Bowes, Christopher Barzak, Peter S. Beagle, Paul Di Filippo, Gregory Maguire, Jeffrey Ford, and Lucius Shepard.
• Sci Fi Wire has this news story about the book.
• The book was reviewed by Rich Horton in the August issue of Locus Magazine, and by Nick Gevers in the upcoming October issue. Horton notes the book is "an attempt to recreate the spirit of the French literary salons of the 17th century and beyond: free-wheeling exchanges of ideas and stories", while Gevers especially recommends the stories by Beagle, Ford, and Marly Youmans.

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* Heinlein, Robert A., & Spider Robinson : Variable Star
(Tor 0-765-31312-X, $24.95, 318pp, hardcover, September 2006, jacket art Stephan Martiniere)

SF novel by Robinson based on a detailed outline from 1955 by Heinlein for a novel that he never wrote. Profits from the book will help fund the $500,000 Heinlein Prize for innovation in commercial manned space flight.
• The book is a young-adult novel about a would-be composer who rejects marriage to the daughter of the wealthiest man of the solar system in order to set off on his own.
• The book has an Editor's Preface by Cordwainer LoBrutto.
• Tor Books has set up website variablestarbook.com with background, reviews, and several excerpts.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews; the latter concludes "The trademark Heinlein quips, space-travel motifs, and obligatory schmaltzy romance are all here in a faithful, if technologically updated, pastiche of the late master's style and storytelling genius."
• Russell Letson reviews it in the September issue of Locus Magazine.

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+ Hobb, Robin : Forest Mage
(HarperCollins/Eos 0-06-075763-9, $25.95, 718pp, hardcover, September 2006, jacket illustration Christopher Vacher)

Fantasy novel, second in the "Soldier Son" trilogy following Shaman's Crossing (just out in paperback).
• The publisher's site has this description, and a text excerpt.
• Locus Magazine's New and Notable Books listing for October describes it thus: "Being fat and despised was never so fascinating as in this atmospheric second volume in the Soldier Son fantasy trilogy, which finds lord's son Nevare devastated when his rare reaction to plague (and magic) causes uncontrolled weight gain, resulting in his dismissal from the military academy and sending him to the frontier in an attempt to find a commander desperate enough to let him enlist."
• Faren Miller's review in the September Locus said "At once harrowing, unexpected, and morally complex... I'm eager to see what happens next."

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* Jackson, Liam : Offspring
(St. Martin's Press/Thomas Dunne Books 0-312-35570-x, $24.95, 290pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket design Adam Auerbach)

Fantasy thriller, first of a trilogy, in which the eternal war between Good and Evil depends on "Offspring", descendants of humans and angels.
• The author's website has a description, excerpts, a gallery, a word from the author, etc.
• The author is a "highly decorated twenty-year veteran of the U.S. Criminal Justice System."
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which says the book will be best appreciated by "readers who believe in angels and enjoy splatter films".

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* Murakami, Haruki : Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
(Knopf 1-4000-4461-8, $24.95, 334pp, hardcover, September 2006)

Collection of 24 stories, translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel and Jay Rubin, by the author of World Fantasy Award nominated novel Kafka on the Shore.
• Stories were previously published in Granta, Harper's, The New Yorker, and other venues.
• The book has just won the second Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, "a $44,700 prize billed as the world's richest for short stories".
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review by Lily Tuck: "It is clear that Murakami is well acquainted with the teachings of Buddhism, western philosophies, Jungian theory; he has a deep knowledge of music and, also, I have been told, is a dedicated, strong swimmer. In his stories, he roams freely and convincingly through all these elements (and no doubt many more) without differentiating to create a world where cats talk and elephants disappear."

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* Wellington, David : Monster Nation
(Thunder's Mouth Press 1-56025-866-7, $13.95, 285pp, trade paperback, September 2006)

Horror novel, subtitled "A Zombie Novel", second in a trilogy that began with Monster Island, published earlier this year.
• The author's website has this page about the book and links to the complete text, as well as that of the third book, Monster Planet.

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* Westerfeld, Scott : The Last Days
(Penguin/Razorbill 1-59514-062-x, $16.99, 286pp, hardcover, September 2006, jacket design Lauren Monchik)

YA fantasy novel, sequel to Peeps (2005), set in New York City where an epidemic is turning people into cannibals, concerning five teens in a band whose songs may hold a key to what's going on.
• The publisher's site has this brief description.
• Westerfeld's blog has this post showing the Australian cover for the book.
• Amazon has the Booklist review by Lynn Rutan: "Teens will savor the picture of a band finding its sound while saving the world. Both new readers and Peeps fans will eat this up."

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