* Block, Francesca Lia : Psyche in a Dress
(HarperCollins/Cotler 0-06-076372-8, $15.99, 116pp, hardcover, September 2006)

Young-adult novel-in-verse retelling the Greek myths in modern settings, with Psyche, Eros, Hades, Aphrodite, Orpheus, and others.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has School Library Journal and Booklist reviews; the former calls it "Riveting and brilliant", while the latter says "these contemporary retellings of Greek myths are erotic and intellectual, and they are for older readers (including adults) who can appreciate the meanings of the complex metaphors. These aren't playful fractured fairy tales."

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* Bradbury, Ray : Farewell Summer
(William Morrow 0-06-113154-7, $24.95, 211pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket design Tom Lau)

Fantasy novel, sequel to Bradbury's classic Dandelion Wine (1957), about 12-year-old Douglas Spaulding in Green Town, Illinois, in 1928.
• It's a fairly short book -- 205 pages of large print with frequent chapter breaks, plus a 5-page afterword by the author, "The Importance of Being Startled".
• The publisher's site has this description and a text excerpt.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its August 7th issue: "This poignant, wise but slight 'extension' of the indefatigable Bradbury's semiautobiographical Dandelion Wine picks up the story of 12-year-old Douglas Spaulding in October of 1928, when the warmth of summer still clings to Green Town, Ill. As in his episodic 1957 novel, Bradbury evokes the rhythms of a long-gone smalltown America with short, swift chapters that build to a lyrical meditation on aging and death." And the Booklist review: "While Bradbury aficionados may find the novel's brief length somewhat disappointing, they'll find, too, that his prose remains masterfully precision-tuned. A touching meditation on memories, aging, and the endless cycle of birth and death, and a fitting capstone, perhaps, to a brilliant career."

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* Butler, S. C. : Reiffen's Choice
(Tor 0-765-31477-0, $25.95, 463pp, hardcover, September 2006, jacket art Daniel Dos Santos)

Young-adult SF novel, the author's first novel and first in the "Stoneways Trilogy", about a 12-year-old heir to two thrones.
• Series website valingstoneways.com has a map, an excerpt, news, cover art, and titles of the next two books.
• Amazon has the book description -- "Reiffen's Choice is the first book in a trilogy about innocence and struggle that can only be compared to Eragon and Eldest, The Once and Future King and Raymond E. Feist's Magician. It will be an experience you will never forget." -- and several posts from the author.
• SF Weekly's Cynthia Ward's review gave it a B+, saying the author "launches a high fantasy trilogy that will appeal to readers from 10 to 110. While he's clearly writing a Tolkien-esque hidden-monarch epic, Butler has created an imaginative, well-wrought world that is very much his own..."

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* Clarke, Susanna, illustrated by Charles Vess : The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories
(Bloomsbury 1-59691-251-0, $23.95, 235pp, hardcover, October 2006, cover by Charles Vess)

Collection of 8 stories, most set in the same world as the author's best-selling and prize-winning novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. One story, "John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner", is original to this book. Reprinted stories include three that first appeared in Patrick Nielsen Hayden's Starlight anthologies.
• The book has an introduction by Professor James Sutherland, and interior illustrations by Charles Vess. It lacks a dust jacket.
• The publisher's site has this description; the UK publisher offers a slipcased edition. Website www.jonathanstrange.com has a description including the complete text of Sutherland's introduction, plus an excerpt from the book's original story.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews; the latter's Elizabeth Dickie concludes "These stories are charming, engaging, and deceptively simple."

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* Di Filippo, Paul : Creature from the Black Lagoon: Time's Black Lagoon
(Dark Horse Comics/DH Press 1-59582-033-7, $6.99, 301pp, mass market paperback, October 2006, cover painting Stephen Youll)

SF novel based on the 1954 film.
• The publisher's site has this description: "Six decades later, one scientist attempts to find out, using a time machine to journey into the past. What he finds not only shatters his vision of what the Creature might be, but could change the history of the human race forever...."
• There's also an excerpt.

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* Elliott, Kate : Spirit Gate
(Tor 0-765-31055-4, $25.95, 445pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket art Michael Kaluta)

Fantasy novel, first book in a projected seven-volume series "Crossroads", about a land called the Hundred whose Guardians and peace-keepers have disappeared.
• The author's official site links to this page about the series and this excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "She is equally adept at outlining intricate religions and myths. This promises to be a truly epic fantasy."

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* Flint, Eric, & Andrew Dennis : 1635: The Cannon Law
(Baen 1-4165-0938-0, $26, 420pp, hardcover, October 2006, cover art Tom Kidd)

SF time travel novel, fourth in the series following Flint's 1632 (2000), Flint & David Weber's 1633 (2002), and Flint & Dennis' 1634: The Galileo Affair (2004), about modern Americans from Gransville, West Virginia, trapped in Renaissance Italy.
• Baen's Webscription site has this blurb and links to several chapters.
• The Publishers Weekly review on the Amazon page says the book "offers a deliciously Machiavellian plot" and concludes "If this novel is not as rollicking as its predecessor, that may be because there really isn't anything funny about the Spanish Inquisition, Monty Python notwithstanding."

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* Flynn, Michael : Eifelheim
(Tor 0-765-30096-6, $25.95, 320pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket art Stephen Hunt)

SF novel about contemporary researchers investigating the fate of a vanished Black Forest village, and the 14th century pastor there who encountered a crashed space ship full of alien "Krenken".
• The novel incorporates Flynn's 1986 novella of the same name, a Hugo nominee and winner of that year's Analog Analytical Laboratory.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its August 21st issue, which says that Flynn "masterfully achieves an intricate panorama of medieval life, full of fascinatingly realized human and Krenken characters whose fates interconnect with poignant irony."

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* Foster, Alan Dean : Sagramanda
(Pyr 1-59102-488-9, $25, 287pp, hardcover, October 2006, cover illustration John Picacio)

SF novel, subtitled "a novel of near-future India", about a scientist who steals a research project from his corporate employer.
• The publisher's site has this description and quotes from reviews.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it a "lighthearted techno-thriller" and concludes "SF elements make colorful window dressing for this unpredictable thriller, whose multiple threads Foster juggles like the professional he is."

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* Rawn, Melanie : Spellbinder
(Tor 0-765-31532-7, $24.95, 396pp, hardcover, October 2006)

Urban fantasy novel, subtitled "A Love Story With Magical Interruptions", about "the sex lives and turf wars of modern Manhattan witches" according to the PW review.
• The author's website has this description.
• Amazon has that Publishers Weekly review, which calls it an "entertaining if overstuffed novel" and concludes "This cauldron bubbles over with spells, rituals, sex and even a vampire or two."

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* Reisz, Kristopher : Tripping to Somewhere
(Simon Pulse 1-4169-4000-6, $6.99, 368pp, trade paperback, October 2006, cover illustration and design Sammy Yuen Jr.)

Young-adult urban fantasy novel about two high school girls who go on a road trip to find the Witches' Carnival.
• The publisher's site has this description and a Chapter Two excerpt.
• The author's site has a description with a Chapter One excerpt, and a blog.
• Amazon has two enthusiastic reader reviews.

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* Russell, David Bryan : Enchanters
(Australia: Freya Publishing 0-9775438-0-3, A$14.95, 345pp, trade paperback, October 2006, cover design John Clooney)

Fantasy novel about a 19-year-old girl who, while visiting Norway, discovers an enchanted world alongside our own.
• The publisher's site (or book's site) has a description, sample pages, purchasing information, and information about the author, who was born in Los Angeles and worked as a film writer and illustrator. (More at David Russell - Production Illustrator / Storyboard Artist.)
• The press release says the book "is a welcome ray of light in a genre dominated by morbidity and violence. Writing in a highly literate, yet accessible style, David Bryan Russell presents a new concept of magic, intertwined within a complex and sensitive story."

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* Sarrantonio, Al : Horrorween
(Leisure 0843956399, $6.99, 324pp, mass market paperback, October 2006)

Horror novel, latest in a sequence of Halloween-oriented books following Hallows Eve (2004) and Orangefield (2002). This book is about the disappearance of a boy from the small town of Orangefield, home to the Lord of Death.
• The publisher's site has this description with an excerpt and a special feature by the author.

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* Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn : Roman Dusk: A Novel of the Count Saint-Germain
(Tor 0-765-31391-X, $27.95, 352pp, hardcover, September 2006)

Fantasy novel, 19th volume in the author's long-running vampire series, this one set in 3rd-century Rome.
• The author's site has this page about the series.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its July 17th issue: "Yarbro's 19th volume in her majestic fantasy series (after 2005's Dark of the Sun) is one of her finest yet to feature heroic vampire Saint-Germain, here known as Ragoczy Germainus Sanct-Franciscus.... Meticulous attention to historic detail and vivid writing bring an ancient era to life. Unlike most generic vampiric novels that can be quaffed in a quick if entertaining gulp, this book should be savored like a fine wine."

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