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Anthony, Piers :
Stork Naked
(Tor 0-765-30409-0, $24.95, 304pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket art Darrell K. Sweet)
Humorous fantasy novel, 30th in the popular, pun-filled "Xanth" series. This one concerns an Adult Conspiracy that prevents too-young Surprise Golem from having her baby delivered by Stymy Stork.
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Wkipedia has this stub page for the book.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews; the former comments "Hardcore Xanth fans will enjoy the pun-filled journey, but other readers may raise their eyebrows at how often the Adult Conspiracy fails to protect teenage girls from sexual activity."
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Cherryh, C. J. :
Fortress of Ice
(HarperCollins/Eos 0-380-97904-7, $24.95, 402pp, hardcover, November 2006, jacket illustration Matt Stawicki)
Fantasy novel, fifth in the "Fortress" series that began with Fortress in the Eye of Time (1995) and whose previous volume was Fortress of Dragons (2000). In this book, set 16 years after the previous title, Cefwyn tries to take control of his kingdom while struggling with the rivalry between his two sons.
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The HarperCollins website has this description of the book, and a text excerpt.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it an "intense coming-of-age story", and several reader reviews.
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Gorey, Edward :
Amphigorey Again
(Harcourt 0-15-101107-9, $35, unppp, hardcover, October 2006, cover by Edward Gorey)
Omnibus/collection of graphic stories, the fourth and posthumous such book by the artist and writer of previous collections Amphigorey (1972), Amphigorey Too (1975), and Amphigorey Also (1983). This volume includes previously published works such as The Haunted Tea-Cosey and The Headless Bust, as well as two previously unpublished stories, "The Izzard Book" and "La Malle Saignante".
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Harcourt has this minisite for the book, with links to other books by the author, and this description.
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Amazon has the Booklist review: "There is less of Gorey at his best here, and some that seems or plainly is incomplete. Still, Gorey's unique talent should be represented as completely as possible in every collection of American art and literature."
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Isaak, Elaine :
The Eunuch's Heir
(Eos 0-06-078255-2, $15.95, 417pp, trade paperback, October 2006, cover illustration Aaron Campbell)
Fantasy novel, sequel to the author's first novel The Singer's Crown (2005). In this book the heir to a kingdom flees following an attempt on his life.
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The publisher's site has this description.
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The author's site has this page for the book, with a link to a sample chapter (in Word).
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it "colorful but overly ornate", and a post from the author, who discusses Research Rapture.
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Jones, Tamara Siler :
Valley of the Soul
(Bantam Spectra 0-553-58711-0, $6.99, 452pp, mass market paperback, November 2006, cover art Edward Miller)
Fantasy novel, a medieval police procedural, third in the author's series following Ghosts in the Snow (2004) and Threads of Malice (2005).
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In this book, sleuth Dubric Byerly investigates a string of grisly murders.
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Bantam's site has this description and an excerpt.
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Amazon has two reader reviews.
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Klages, Ellen :
The Green Glass Sea
(Viking 0-670-06134-4, $16.99, 321pp, hardcover, October 2006)
Young-adult historical novel, not SF but of associational interest, about two girls in Los Alamos during the World War II search for the atomic bomb.
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The novel expands upon the eponymous title story published by Strange Horizons in 2004.
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The publisher's site has this brief description. The author's site has this page for the book, with links to reviews, including the starred Publishers Weekly review from its October 23rd issue: "Klages makes an impressive debut with an ambitious, meticulously researched novel set during WWII. ... the author provides much insight into the controversies surrounding the making of the bomb and brings to life the tensions of war experienced by adults and children alike."
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Amazon has the School Library Journal review: "Many readers will know as little about the true nature of the project as the girls do, so the gradual revelation of facts is especially effective, while those who already know about Los Alamos's historical significance will experience the story in a different, but equally powerful, way."
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The book has just been named the #1 pick on the Winter 2006/2007 Book Sense Children's Picks list.
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Gary K. Wolfe reviews it in the upcoming December issue of Locus Magazine: "Klages has already shown herself to be a writer with an acute understanding of youthful anxieties and ambitions, but she's never written about them more clearly, and with more grace and feeling, than she does here, and her evocation of Los Alamos in the 1940s is utterly convincing."
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Masterton, Graham :
Night Wars
(Leisure 0-8436-5427-2, $6.99, 354pp, mass market paperback, September 2006)
Horror novel, fourth in the "Night Warriors" series that began with Night Warriors (1986), followed by Death Dream (1988) and Night Plague (1991), about people who battle demons who inhabit new-born babies.
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The publisher's site has this page for the book, with a description and an excerpt.
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This book was among the freebies distributed to members of the World Fantasy Convention earlier this month.
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Amazon has reader reviews.
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McDevitt, Jack :
Odyssey
(Ace 0-441-01433-x, $24.95, 410pp, hardcover, November 2006, jacket art Larry Price)
SF novel, fifth book about former starship pilot Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchinson, following The Engines of God (1994), Deepsix (2001), Chindi (2002), and Omega (2003). In this book the Academy, a future space program facing budget cuts, investigates "moonriders", strange lights seen in nearby systems that may be alien spacecraft.
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The author's site has this page about the book, with links to an introduction (not in the book) and the book's prologue, and quotes from reviews.
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Locus Magazine's 2005 interview with McDevitt, excerpted online, comments about working on this book.
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Amazon has the Booklist review: "McDevitt's energetic, character-driven prose serves double duty by exploring Earth's future political climate and forecasting the potential dangers awaiting humanity among the stars."
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Russell Letson reviews it in the upcoming December issue of Locus Magazine: "McDevitt's imaginative world stretches between the poles of Home and Out There -- and as strange and wonderful and terrifying as Out There can be, Home is where his heart is."
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Norton, Andre, & Jean Rabe :
A Taste of Magic
(Tor 0-765-31527-0, $24.95, 203pp, hardcover, November 2006, jacket art Tristan Elwell)
Fantasy novel about a woman with a magical sense of the world around her who is one of two survivors of a raid by Lord Purvis.
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An introduction by Rabe explains that this book was the last novel Norton worked on; Rabe completed the book based on Norton's plot and outline.
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Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt.
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Amazon has the book's description and a reader review by Harriet Klausner.
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Scalzi, John :
The Android's Dream
(Tor 0-765-30941-6, $24.95, 396pp, hardcover, November 2006, jacket art Shelley Eshkar)
SF novel about a diplomatic crisis with aliens that requires diplomat Harry Creek to find a particular kind of sheep.
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Scalzi's books page has a "10 Words or Less" description, "Man solves diplomatic crisis through action scenes and snappy dialogue", plus the cover blurbage, quotes from reviews, and personal notes: "I call this my 'popcorn movie' book: No particularly deep themes, just lots of action and adventure and fun. I had a ball writing this one."
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Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt. Amazon has the Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews; the former says "With plenty of alien gore to satisfy fans of military SF and inventive jabs at pretend patriotism and self-serving civil service, Scalzi delivers an effervescent but intelligent romp"; the latter, "Scalzi's third ingenious novel in less than two years speeds his transition from rising star to major player in the sf community."
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Sherman, Delia :
Changeling
(Viking 0-670-05967-6, $16.99, 292pp, hardcover, August 2006, jacket illustration Mel Grant)
Young adult fantasy novel about a changeling girl living in New York who sneaks off to a dance in Central Park.
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The publisher's website has this description: "The acclaimed Delia Sherman's first novel for younger readers turns both Manhattan and storytelling inside out."
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Amazon has the School Library Journal review: "The novel is delightfully full of allusions to children's books (the Water Rat and Stuart Little live in Central Park), fairy-tale motifs, and contemporary culture (the Green Lady talks as tough as a character on The Sopranos). Readers will love the feisty, irrepressibly optimistic Neef, delight in the sheer cleverness of the story, and never look at New York in the same way again."
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Carolyn Cushman reviews it in the November issue of Locus Magazine: "The strange version of New York in which they travel is a delight: Wall Street is ruled by a dragon; the Genius of the Plaza Hotel (and Patroness of Spoiled Brats) is Kay Thompson's Eloise...."
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Sokoloff, Alexandra :
The Harrowing
(St. Martin's 0-312-35748-6, $21.95, 245pp, hardcover, September 2006)
Horror novel about college students who raise an evil spirit via an Ouija board.
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It's the author's first novel. The author's website has background on her screenwriting career, a description of the book, and an excerpt (in RTF or PDF). She blogs at The Dark Salon.
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The publisher's site has the descritpion and an excerpt on a webpage.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it "a teen terror flick in prose" and concludes "The pyrotechnic climax, in which the kids prove unusually adept at occult subterfuge, stretches credibility but provides a suitably cinematic finale."
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Valente, Catherynne M. :
In the Night Garden
(Bantam Spectra 0-553-38403-1, $14, 483pp, trade paperback, November 2006, cover art Jon Foster)
Fantasy novel, first book in "The Orphan's Tales", with illustrations by Michael Kaluta. In this book a lonely girl tells a prince a series of tales that reveal her own history.
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Series website The Orphan's Tales has back ground on the author, excerpts, and reviews.
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Bantam's site has this description and an excerpt.
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Amazon has the starred Booklist review: "The narrative is a nested, many-faceted thing, ever circling back to the girl in the palace garden and the prince she is telling the tales to in a wonderful interpretation of what fairy tales ought to be. The illustrations, by Michael Kaluta, constitute an excellent supplement, reminiscent of illustrations of such fairy-tale books as Andrew Lang's, though Kaluta does no toning down for Victorian sensibilities."
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Weber, David, & Linda Evans :
Hell's Gate
(Baen 1-416-50939-9, $26, 801pp, hardcover, November 2006, cover art Kurt Miller)
Fantasy novel, first in the "Multiverse" series, about two human societies in parallel universes, one based on science and the other magic, who come into conflict.
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Baen's Webscription site has this description with links to 12 chapters.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly -- "The narrative bogs down slightly under the weight of the world building necessary for later installments, but is uncompromising in sacrificing even strong, sympathetic characters to the demands of the plot." -- and mixed reader reviews.
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Wolfe, Gene :
Soldier of Sidon
(Tor 0-765-31664-1, $24.95, 319pp, hardcover, October 2006, jacket art David Grove)
Fantasy novel, belated third volume in the series that began with Soldier of the Mist (1986) and Soldier of Arete (1989), about Latro, a soldier in 5th century B.C. Greece whose lack of short-term memory requires him to write down his daily experiences so he can remember them the next morning. He's also able to perceive the gods and other supernatural beings. In this volume Latro finds himself in Egypt.
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The two previous volumes have been published as trade paperback omnibus Latro in the Mist.
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Paul Di Filippo's Sci Fi Weekly review awards it an A.
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Amazon's 'search inside' features includes an excerpt. Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it a "splendid historical fantasy" and concludes "For all Wolfe assures us that ancient Egypt is not mysterious, Latro's journey makes up a leisurely, dreamlike, haunted house of a novel, which brilliantly immerses the reader in the belief systems of the time, drifting in and out of the everyday and spirit worlds until the two become indistinguishable."
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Faren Miller reviewed it in the October issue of Locus Magazine: "Latro observes, muses, survives, and (like this elusive, oddly fascinating series) doesn't really come to anything like a conclusion."
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