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Asaro, Catherine :
Alpha
(Baen 1-4165-2081-3, $25, 270pp, hardcover, September 2006, cover illustration Alan Pollack)
SF novel, sequel to Sunrise Alley (2004), about a gorgeous female android named Alpha, who's now on the run.
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Baen's Webscription site has this description with links to several chapters.
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The author's website has, at the moment, a description of the novel on its homepage.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review.
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Benson, Amber, & Christopher Golden :
Witchery: A Ghosts of Albion Novel
(Ballantine Del Rey 0-345-47131-8, $14.95, 381pp, trade paperback, October 2006, cover by Gene Mollica)
Supernatural thriller, follow-up to Ghosts of Albion: Accursed (2005), about two magicians in Victorian England who defend their country from dark forces. It's based on a popular BBC website flash-animation drama.
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The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt. The same description and excerpt are on the Amazon page.
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Bujold, Lois McMaster :
The Sharing Knife, Volume One: Beguilement
(HarperCollins/Eos 0-06-113758-8, $25.95, 355pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket illustration Julie Bell)
Romantic fantasy novel, first in the "The Sharing Knife" duology, about a runaway farmgirl, a Lakewalker patroller who rescues her, and an enchanted knife made of human bone.
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The publisher's site has this description and a text excerpt.
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Bujold's webiste has news of this and other works in progress. The second book, Legacy, will be published next year.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal reviews; the former concludes "Bujold hints at an epic past of mighty kingdoms and ancient sorceries -- a past that will hopefully be fully detailed in the sequel."
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Carolyn Cushman reviewed it in the August issue of Locus Magazine, saying the book "takes a new direction [for Bujold] with a definite focus on romance."
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Dietz, William C. :
Logos Run
(Ace 0-441-01428-3, $24.95, 357pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket illustration Craig White)
SF novel, sequel to Runner (2005, just out in paperback), about an interstellar courier. In this book an AI called Logos is sent to a mysterious backwater planet.
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The author's website has a short description.
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Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt.
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Hoffman, Alice :
Incantation
(Little Brown 0316010197, $16.99, 166pp, hardcover, October 2006, cover illustration Greg Spalenka)
Young-adult magical-realist fantasy novel by the author of Practical Magic and The Foretelling about a 16-year-old girl, Estrella, during the Spanish Inquisition, who discovers that her family is secretly Jewish.
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The author's website has a short excerpt. The publisher's website has a brief description.
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Amazon has the Booklist review. The Publishers Weekly's review, in this week's issue but not yet on Amazon, says "With expert pacing and lyrical prose, Hoffman lays out the clues that lead Estrella to self-discovery while also educating readers about the nuances of the times."
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Jacques, Brian :
Voyage of Slaves
(Penguin/Philomel 0-399-24549-9, $23.99, 356pp, hardcover, September 2006, jacket art Michael Koelsch)
Young adult fantasy novel about pirates and slave-traders in the Mediterranean Sea, sequel to Castaways of the Flying Dutchman (2001).
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The brief description on the publisher's site is also on the Amazon page.
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The author's site has only this order page for the book.
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Kent, Steven L. :
The Rogue Clone
(Ace 0-441-01450-X, $7.99, 383pp, mass market paperback, October 2006, cover art Christian McGrath)
SF novel, sequel to The Clone Republic (published in April), about an outlawed model clone who's escaped to become an independent bounty hunter.
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The author's website, Sad Sam's Palace, has descriptions of his two novels and an excerpt from the first.
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Lackey, Mercedes :
Aerie
(DAW 0-7564-0391-X, $25.95, 291pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket painting Jody A. Lee)
Fantasy novel, fourth and final book n the "Dragon Jousters" series following Joust (2003), Alta (2004), and Sanctuary (2005), about knights who fight from the backs of dragons.
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The author's website has this page for the book.
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Amazon has reader reviews.
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McCaughrean, Geraldine :
Peter Pan in Scarlet
(Simon & Schuster/McElderry 1-4169-1808-6, $17.99, 310pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket illustration Tony DiTerlizzi)
Young-adult fantasy novel, first authorized sequel to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, with illustrations by Scott M. Fischer.
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The book has an official website, which describes the international search for an author to write this authorized sequel; "Geraldine McCaughrean was the author chosen from a field of nearly 200 entries from around the world."
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The US publisher's site has this page with links to excerpts, an image gallery, an audio clip, and more.
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The Publishers Weekly review, in its Oct. 9th issue, has reservations but acknowledges that "McCaughrean's story, with its picaresque descriptions, faithfully rekindled characters and an ending that leaves room for sequels, will keep the pages turning."
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McKiernan, Dennis L. :
Once Upon a Spring Morn
(Roc 0-451-46112-6, $23.95, 379pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket art Duane O. Myers)
Fantasy novel, fourth in the author's seasonal "Faery" sequence following Once Upon a Winter's Night, Once Upon a Summer Day (2005), and Once Upon an Autumn Eve (2006).
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The author's site has the book's foreword, and a bibliography that indicates one more volume forthcoming: Once Upon a Dreadful Time.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which notes that it "takes its inspiration from the Childe Roland fairy tale", and the Booklist review by Paula Luedtke, who concludes "McKiernan seamlessly sews together two fairy tales and adds unique twists and enhancements in his fourth seasonal volume of a world of Faery that ought to have been".
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Paolini, Christopher :
Eldest, Deluxe Edition
(Knopf 0-375-84060-5, $24, 17+706pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket illustration John Jude Palencar)
Hardcover reissue of Paolini's popular sequel to Eragon (2003). This edition has an excerpt from Book Three of the series, plus new material selected by fans in an online poll -- including a foldout poster of the dragon Glaedr (by John Jude Palencar), a history of Alagaesia, and an extensive list of people and creatures, places, and things.
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The movie Eragon opens December 15th.
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Wikipedia has this entry for the book with a plot summary and list of characters.
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The publisher's site has this description.
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Powers, Richard :
The Echo Maker
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux 0374146357, $25, 451pp, hardcover, October 2006)
Associational novel by 1989 MacArthur Fellow Powers, an author known for scientifically-informed novels such as The Gold Bug Variations and Galatea 2.2. This book concerns an accident victim stricken with Capgras syndrome -- he's "unable to match his visual and intellectual identifications with his emotional ones" in the description of the starred Publishers Weekly review quoted on the Amazon page.
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The novel was just announced as a finalist for this year's National Book Awards in the fiction category; the NBA site has this page about the book.
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The publisher's site has this page for the book.
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The author's site has this page listing reviews of the book. Stephen Burt's review in Slate begins "If the term 'science fiction' had no prior meaning, it would describe all the novels of Richard Powers."
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Rabe, Jean, & Brian M. Thomsen, eds. :
Furry Fantastic
(DAW 0-7564-0381-2, $7.99, 312pp, mass market paperback, October 2006)
Anthology 18 original stories about cats, dogs, mice, and other furry creatures.
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Authors include Michael A. Stackpole, Dave Bischoff, C.J. Henderson, Loren L. Coleman, Keith DeCandido, and Jody Lynn Nye.
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Amazon has a review by Harriet Klausner.
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Resnick, Mike, ed. :
This is My Funniest: Leading Science Fiction Writers Present Their Funniest Stories Ever
(BenBella 1932100954, $14.95, 427pp, trade paperback, October 2006, cover illustration Ralph Voltz)
Anthology of 29 humorous SF stories, chosen and introduced by their authors.
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Authors include Connie Willis, Robert Silverberg, David Brin, Spider Robinson, Esther M. Friesner, and Harry Harrison.
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The publisher's order page has a brief description, also reproduced on the Amazon page.
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Richardson, Kat :
Greywalker
(Roc 0-451-46107-X, $14, 341pp, trade paperback, October 2006, cover art Chris McGrath)
Urban fantasy novel, the author's first novel, about a Private Investigator who wakes up two minutes after being killed, as a 'Greywalker' able to move between our world and the other side.
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The author's website has this description with quotes from reviews, and an excerpt.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Fast-paced fun, this first novel will captivate fans of Charmed, Buffy and Charlaine Harris (Definitely Dead)." Amazon also has several posts by the author.
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Rusch, Kristine Kathryn :
Paloma
(Roc 0-451-46115-0, $6.99, 371pp, mass market paperback, October 2006)
Mystery/SF novel, fifth in the 'Retrieval Artist' series following The Disappeared (2002), Extremes (2003), Consequences (2004), and Buried Deep (2005). This one involves a murder mystery involving a powerful law firm on the Moon.
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The publisher's site has this brief description.
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The author's website links to the Amazon page but with this advice: "If you intend to buy the book, please do so in the first two weeks of October, which will encourage further books in the series."
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Ryan, C. J. :
The Fifth Quadrant
(Bantam Spectra 0-553-58902-4, $6.99, 389pp, mass market paperback, October 2006, cover illustration Paul Youll)
SF novel, third in the series following Dexta (2005) and Glorious Treason (2006) about Imperial bureaucraft Gloria VanDeen, ex-wife of the current Emperor, who uses her stunning good looks to manage troubles on backwater planets.
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Bantam's site has this description -- "Gloria is entertaining two tempting offers: to become Empress, or to rise through the ranks of the Department of Extraterrestrial Affairs and take out some bad guys along the way... " -- and an excerpt.
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Schroeder, Karl :
Sun of Suns
(Tor 0-765-31543-2, $24.95, 318pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket art Stephan Martiniere)
SF novel, "Book One of Virga", a "far-future steam-punk space opera (with pirates!)" according to the author's site, about a fullerene balloon inhabited by various warring nations.
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Schroeder's site points to this excerpt on the Analog site; the novel was first serialized in Analog from November 2005 to March 2006.
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The book indicates David G. Hartwell as editor. The back cover has blurbs from Vernor Vinge and others.
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Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt. Amazon has the Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews; the former concludes "the real fun of this coming-of-age tale includes a pirate treasure hunt and grand scale naval invasions set in the cold, far reaches of space."
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Shinn, Sharon :
Dark Moon Defender
(Ace 0-441-01430-5, $23.95, 435pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket illustration Donato Giancola)
Fantasy novel, third in the "Twelve Houses" series following Mystic and Rider (2005) and The Thirteenth House (2006).
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Once again Shinn expertly mixes romance with traditional fantasy for a satisfying read."
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Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt.
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Watts, Peter :
Blindsight
(Tor 0-765-31218-2, $25.95, 384pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket art Thomas Pringle)
Hard SF novel about the discovery of a mysterious alien artifact beyond the edge of the solar system.
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Watts' website Rifters.com has this description with an executive summary and a morphology of the ship Theseus. The site also includes this bloggish Newscrawl.
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Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its August 28th issue, which says that Watts "explores the nature of consciousness in this stimulating hard SF novel, which combines riveting action with a fascinating alien environment. ... Watts puts a terrifying and original spin on the familiar alien contact story."
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